The Constitutional Court rejected by majority the challenge formulated by the PP against the president of the bodyCandido Condé-Pumpido, Thus, she will be able to participate in the deliberations on the unconstitutionality appeal presented by Génova against the amnesty law.
According to TC sources consulted by Europa Press, this is a decision which was adopted by seven votes for and one against. It is to be expected that the same reasons which led the Plenary to reject the “popular” protest will lead to reject the eight others formulated against him by the autonomous communities governed by those of Alberto Núñez Feijóo, who also contested the amnesty law.
Although the result was peaceful, discussions on this subject occupied the entire day, given the unease in the conservative bloc due to the very way Condé-Pumpido proceeded in the face of the challenges raised in the issues related to amnesty .
And the fact is that only 8 of the 12 magistrates that normally compose it participated in this plenary session because Conde-Pumpido asked the progressive magistrate Laura Díez and the conservative José María Macías not to intervene in the deliberation on the directed challenge against him. because they too are questioned on this issue, she by the PP and he by the prosecution and the prosecution.
The conservative sector advocated resolving the challenges launched against these three magistrates in the same way as was done with the abstention of the progressive Juan Carlos Campo, who voluntarily withdrew from the debates on amnesty because when he was Minister of Justice, he declared that it was “clearly unconstitutional” “in the reports favorable to the pardon of those found guilty of the ‘trial’.
A “NEUTRAL” RESULT
With Campo, the TC ratified its abstention in the first question presented in plenary session – the question of unconstitutionality formulated by the Supreme Court (TS) – and, in a subsequent plenary session, applied this same criterion to the other 19 abstentions.
In a letter to Conde-Pumpido, Macías asked him not to divide the deliberation on the challenges to ensure a “neutral” outcome. He reasons that, if those formulated against the president of the TC and Díez are rejected, the progressive magistrates will be able to rule on the one launched against him without him having been able to do so on theirs.
Thus, Macías demanded to apply the “field directive” to the 54 challenges from magistrates that accompany the challenges to the amnesty law. Concretely, the former member of the General Council of the Judiciary (CGPJ) accumulates 27, while Conde-Pumpido, Díez and Campo have 9 each. It should be remembered that those formulated against the former Minister of Justice declined after his abstentions were accepted.
In response to Macías’ request, other voices from the court of guarantees affirm that, precisely, we are moving towards the model that the conservative bloc defended during the plenary session of September 24, in which all abstentions were approved. Field.
THE TWO SPEEDS OF AMNESTY
Once the Condé-Pumpido challenge has been rejected, it is expected that the Díez challenge will be discussed at the next plenary session on this same subject. Subsequently, the idea is to address the admission to processing of the appeal of unconstitutionality of the PP, whose presentation fell, precisely, on Macías. And then take up the challenge against the latter.
Both sectors agree to point to the struggle for control of time as the real reason for the new confrontation between the two blocs of the guarantees court.
The progressive sector has sought to “accelerate” the processing of the amnesty law in order to be able to condemn it within a period of between six months and a year, an estimate which, in the most optimistic scenario, could lead to a judgment around summer. .
On the other hand, we wanted a more peaceful debate which would respect from the start the individualization of each incident – whether it be abstention or recusal – which would irremediably delay the first amnesty judgment.
According to legal sources of this news agency, these two speeds are explained by the growing feeling that the moment when the Constitutional Court fails could be key for the current legislature.
