González Pons’ influenza forces postponement of appointments of Bolaños and Reynders until after Galician elections to unblock CGPJ

Representatives of the Socialist Workers Party and the Popular Party, the President, Minister of Justice and Parliamentary Relations Felix Bolaños, and the Deputy Secretary for Institutional Affairs of the Popular Party Esteban González Pons met with the European Commissioner for Justice Didi Didier Reynders’ attempt to unlock an update on the General Council of Justice and agree on a reform of the method of appointing its members has been delayed by a week. As the Popular Party announced in a statement, the elections will be held on Monday 19th, the day after Galicians go to the polls.

The reason for the delay was that the PP negotiator was unwell. González Pons has been suffering from a fever since Thursday morning due to an attack of influenza A. On Friday afternoon, representatives of the Popular Party contacted the Socialist Minister and the European Commissioner to inform him of the situation and to raise the need to postpone the meeting scheduled for next Monday afternoon in Brussels if the disease persists. In this way, both Bolaños and Reynders can now unblock their respective agendas.

Therefore, the three parties agreed to postpone the meeting in the community capital for one week until Monday the 19th. This will be their second meeting to reach an agreement that guarantees the renewal of the governing body and the government of judges, which have been suspended for five years, and to design a new election program for council members to guarantee the independence of the Spanish judiciary.

Numerous attempts by socialists and popular groups to renew the CGPJ began in late January, when the European Commissioner agreed to mediate between the two parties, as Popular Party leader Alberto Núñez Feijóo) proposed to the French President. Government Pedro Sánchez.

González Pons, Bolaños and Reynders met for the first time on January 31 in Brussels. Among them, representatives of the PP and PSOE pledged to cooperate in adhering to the recommendations of the European Commission, according to which the CGPJ should be updated as a “priority” to “immediately” start reforms to its methods of selecting members. This allows members to be elected by their peers, i.e. judges appointed by judges, thus avoiding the politicization of the institution.

Under Reynders’ mediation, the two sides agreed to hold a second meeting on Monday, January 12, to “take stock” of the progress of the negotiations. To this day, the government’s defense is that the Security Council must be updated as soon as possible and only then will they “talk” about other issues. Instead, the public insists on the need for both renewal and reform. The European Commissioner stipulated that as a condition of his mediation role, negotiations between the parties would not last longer than two months.