Julio García-Aquí Europa
The European Commissioner for Justice, Didier Reynders, announced yesterday that there will be a third meeting with the Minister of the Presidency, Justice and Relations with the Parliament, Félix Bolaños, and PP Deputy Secretary of Institutional Action, Esteban González Pons, with the purpose of unblocking the renewal of the General Council of the Judiciary (CGPJ).
The meeting, which will be mediated by the European Commission, will take place on March 13 in Strasbourg (France) and the commissioner has expressed that he still sees a “possibility” of an agreement “as soon as possible” in order to “stabilize” the situation in Spain. However, the Belgian politician has also referred to the complexity of resolving a disagreement that has not progressed for more than five years.
Thus, Reynders pointed out in Brussels, where he attended a meeting of EU Justice Ministers, that “we continue working, we see a possibility of finding solutions between the main Spanish political formations on different aspects of the reform of the judicial world.”
The announced meeting will be the third time that Reynders receives Bolaños and González Pons since at the end of January he accepted the parties’ request to be a “mediator.” The last meeting took place on February 19 and in it Reynders highlighted his “desire to work together.” The commissioner thanked the two main Spanish parties and especially their main negotiators for their willingness to find an agreement.
During the conversations that the three politicians held on January 31, the commissioner indicated that the Spanish have a deadline of two months to agree on how to carry out the renewal of the CGPJ. This decision is based on the fact that, at the end of March, Reynders will cease to exercise his current functions as Commissioner for Justice in the European Commission and will begin his campaign for the General Secretariat of the Council of Europe.
