The Diplomat
The European Commissioner for Justice, Didier Reynders, said yesterday in Madrid that there is a “big difference” between the problem generated in Spain by the blockage of the renewal of the Judiciary and the “systemic problems” of lack of independence of judges in Hungary and Poland.
During his speech at the informative breakfast organized in Madrid by New Economy Forum -which was attended as guests by the Minister of Justice, Pilar Llop, and the leader of Ciudadanos, Inés Arrimadas-. Reynders assured that, during the meetings he held this week in Spain with Government and political parties, he had appreciated a “genuine commitment” to reform the election system of the General Council of the Judiciary (CGPJ) so that judges have a greater role in the appointment of their representatives.
According to the commissioner, the political forces should discuss this reform after the CGPJ, which is currently in office since December 2018, has been renewed. This past Thursday, Reynders assured in Congress, before the Joint Commission for the European Union, that the Spanish political parties should agree to renew “as a priority” the General Council of the Judiciary (CGPJ) in order to, “immediately afterwards”, start the procedure to reform the model for the election of the members. This proposal clashes with the intentions of the PP, which prefers that both the renewal of the CGPJ and the reform of the system be carried out at the same time.
In any case, as Reynders said yesterday, during his interviews in Madrid he had noted that the parties share a “concern” for the “major crisis” that is causing the blockage of the renewal of the Council, which is preventing the appointment of judges in high courts, such as the Supreme Court, and had appreciated a “clear commitment” by the various political forces in this regard.
Reynders assured that his objective is to implement the “recommendations” included in the Report of the European Commission on the Rule of Law in Spain, which refer both to the renewal of the Council and to the reform of its election system, and recalled that the report also urged to modify the law so that the mandate of the Attorney General of the State does not coincide with that of the Government.
In any case, the commissioner stressed how important it would be for Spain to have reformed the system of election of the members of the CGPJ when our country holds the Presidency of the Council of the EU, in the second half of 2023. “It would be very good that at the beginning of its Presidency it demonstrates that it was possible to implement the various recommendations,” he said. This progress would have a “reputational effect” for the country and, for Spain, it would be “important to demonstrate that at the beginning of a task as important as the Presidency it has been able to carry out the right path”.
During his appearance in Congress on Thursday, Reynders warned that, if these recommendations were not implemented, the EU Court of Justice could open an infringement procedure against Spain “for non-compliance with the rules related to the independence of the judiciary”. However, he said, the situation of the Spanish judicial system is “good” and there is a “big difference” with what happens in countries such as Poland and Hungary, in which he assured that there are “systemic problems” regarding the independence of judges and that, therefore, measures of “sanction and pressure” are being adopted against them. In this regard, he previously assured in declarations to Radio Nacional de España, the EU could “even suspend European funds destined for Hungary in the event that it does not put itself in order”.
Catalonia and Russia
At the same event, Reynders said he was “sure” that the Spanish authorities will manage to apply in Catalonia the ruling that requires that in the schools of this community a minimum of 25% of classes be taught in Spanish and indicated that the legal situation of the fugitives of the ‘procés’ in different European countries, such as the former Catalan president Carles Puigdemont, “depends on the judges” and said that the functioning of the eurorden is “very efficient” in general, but that the European Commission will study the possibility of a “very efficient” application of the eurorden, as the former Catalan president Carles Puigdemont, “depends on the judges” and said that the operation of the eurorden is “very efficient” in general, but that the European Commission would study a proposal for improvement if it is formally raised from the European Parliament, something that has not yet happened.
The Commissioner also informed that Spain has already frozen 41 million euros of Russian oligarchs in compliance with the EU sanctions approved for the invasion of Ukraine. As for the EU as a whole, 14.6 billion euros of businessmen linked to the Kremlin have been seized so far and the largest actions have been focused on six countries. 300 million euros of reserves of the Central Bank of Russia have also been frozen. According to Reynders, in one or two EU countries no Russian assets had been frozen, while in Hungary only one item of 3,000 euros had been targeted. In other countries, on the other hand, action had been taken against assets of between EUR 1 billion and EUR 3 billion.
