Renewal of the CGPJ: when breaching the legal dates does not have consequences

Spanish legislation establishes that the mandates within the CGPJ expire after five years, but it does not reflect mechanisms or sanctions for judges or politicians if the dates are not met. The same thing happens with the legislation approved in May that establishes a maximum period of three months for the CGPJ appoints two magistrates for the Constitutional Constantly, Spanish legislation sets deadlines that in practice are indicative for the institutions, since breaking them has no consequence Last Monday, the president of the General Council of the Judiciary (CGPJ), Carlos Lesmes acknowledged that the legislation approved by the Government sets the maximum deadline of September 13 for the body to elect two members for the Constitutional Court. “If we spend a few days, nothing happens. Until the 16th or 18th we can go to the plenary session”, he explained to the agents. And he was right, especially when taking into account that on many occasions, the approved legislation sets maximum deadlines, but lacks consequences, sanctions or warnings for politicians or members of the Administration if these critical deadlines are not met. Lesmes’ laxity with the deliberations is understandable. And even more so if we take into account that both he and the 18 members of the CGPJ have not had their positions confirmed or revoked by the chambers since December 2018 due to lack of agreement between the Government and the opposition. On paper, the maximum term of the members of the judicial leadership is five years, after having been confirmed by three-fifths of the Congress and the Senate. Measures that “nobody likes” This happens on many occasions with the Administration, which understands compliance with deadlines by citizens as obligations but which makes inaction and the passage of time play in its favour, for example, in administrative procedures. This is what is commonly known as administrative silence, which in most cases is usually positive for public bodies. In the case of the renewal of the CGPJ, it is the judges who have repeatedly asked that these deadlines be met while the political class turns a deaf ear to the deadlines. For this reason, Carlos Lesmes put on the table before Felipe VI during his opening speech of the judicial year, the possibility of taking “measures” that “no one likes” if the Government and the opposition do not reach an agreement to renew the judicial leadership “In the next weeks”.