Appointment of judges in Spain: King Felipe VI warns of risks of “erosion of institutions”

In the traditional Christmas message, the King of Spain Felipe VI warned the risks of “institutional erosion”, a warning that alludes to the struggle between the ruling PSOE party and the PP opposition being over the appointment of judges.

The King was heard by 7.9 million people on Saturday night when he said: “Right nowwe should all carry out an exercise of responsibility and reflect constructively on the consequences that ignoring these risks can have for our union, for our coexistence and for our institutions”.

Spain is going through an institutional clash after the Constitutional Court suspend work in Parliament of the legislative reform that it modified the system of election of its magistrates and which the Government had tried to approve with an express procedure.

To date, the PSOE, the People’s Party and the Constitutional Court i still disagree on how to appoint your own magistrates and the members of the Council of Justicethe body which supervises the independence of judges and which, due to disputes between the parties, has not been renewed for four years.

Last week the Constitutional Court said twice No, at the request of the PPto the elaboration of a reform of the governing coalition to renew the judges of that same high court.

The measure was seen as an interference by the Justice in the affairs of the Parliament, “something not seen in 44 years of democracy”, according to Pedro Sánchez said.

In his speech, the King highlighted the need to “strengthen the institutions” to have “solid institutions” that protect citizens and are attentive to their concerns, “that respond to the general interest, exercise their functions with loyal collaboration, in respect the Constitution and the laws and be an example of integrity and rectitude”.

“And this is a daily commitment that the institutions must always commit to,” he said.

applause and criticism

The speech gathered so many applause as criticism.

The biggest applause came from the two major parties, the PSOE and the PP. The criticisms came from Podemos and from the nationalist and pro-independence partners of the government coalition, such as ERC, PNV or EH-Bildu.

Even if in the political debate the PSOE and the PP they have been accusing each other for months to skip the Constitution on the issue of judges, both sides saw their concerns reflected in the King’s message, which he did not specifically mention to the blocking of the General Council of the Judiciary or to the recent modification of the penal code.

For Cristina Narbona, president of the PSOE, the king “was once again right in his diagnosis” and from his words he highlighted the invitation to “reflection” and the responsibility to strengthen the institutions, as well as his marked pro-European character.

The leader of the PP, Alberto Núñez Feijóo, underlined the defense of the Constitution or the legacy of the Transition and his party celebrated the call “to harmony, to dialogue and to address the current institutional crisis” or allusions to territorial integrity.

A “disappointing” speech.

On the other hand, criticisms have not been lacking among the partners of the head of government, Pedro Sánchez. Like those of his coalition partner, Podemos, which through the mouth of his deputy Rafa Mayoral denounced the “lack of democratic legitimacy” of the king which prevents him from fulfilling “the function of arbitration”.

The Viola see the speech as “disappointing” and “full of vagueness”, which allows “monarchists of the right and left to claim authorship or harmony with the royal message, in an exercise in improper vassalage of the 21st century”.

From the PNV they invite the monarch to “accept the reality of nations” and the “constitutional changes” that it entails. They also reproach him for having spoken of institutional degradationHe apportioned “the blame in a general way without pointing it to anyone” and without knowing “to which degradation it refers exactly” whether the TC or the CGPJ.

The Basque nationalists’ spokesman in Congress, Aitor Esteban, asked the monarch to do so the story is “enforced” in the Crown and before his father’s scandals he promoted a reform to limit the inviolability of the king to his public functions.

Jon Iñarritu, of EH Bildu, spoke along a similar line, making the message’s “empty words” ugly, according to him “a soporific toast undetermined so that everyone understands what they want“which also solves the territorial question.

To the president of the Generalitat and leader of the ERC, Pere Aragonès, the royal message has “reaffirmed” his “republican values” and far from a monarchy, he does not see the concepts he alluded to as “an example of rectitude or integrity” the monarch to claim institutions that respond to the general interest.

With information from the EFE, País de Madrid and Clarín archives

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