Spanish Constitutional Court judges blocked a key legal reform by Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez in a power clash that will amp up political tensions as the country heads into an election year.
Last week, lawmakers approved a government proposal to change how the judiciary’s governing council, known as CGPJ, operates, paving the way for Sánchez’s two nominees to get onto the Constitutional Court.
But judges late on Monday granted an order sought by the opposition People’s Party that paralyzes the passage of the bill through the Senate, scheduled for Thursday, the court said in an emailed statement.
Such an interruption of the legislative process is unprecedented in Spain since the return of democracy more than four decades ago.
The PP’s successful attempt to block Sánchez’s reform is a sign of how political tensions are escalating as Spain braces for elections that must be held before the end of 2023.
“In line with the law, in line with the constitution, the government will take as many measures as needed to put an end to the unjustifiable blockade of the judicial power and Constitutional Court,” Sánchez said in a televised statement. Even so, he said the government accepted the decision taken by the conservative judges, even though it doesn’t agree with it.
The court’s ruling, by six votes to five, shows how Spanish institutions are being taken over by partisan interests, said Félix Bolaños, the minister who oversees judicial matters. Both governing coalition partners, the center-left Socialist party and far-left Unidas Podemos, plan to appeal the court’s decision, according to El País.
“Its unlikely this will escalate as the government will try to find another way probably via new legislation,” said Ramón Mateo, director of policy of the BeBartlet consultancy firm in Madrid. “The court didn’t rule on the content of the legislative changes, but that it was introduced in an unrelated bill.”
Más País, a small leftist party that has backed government legislation in the past, late on Monday introduced a new proposal that changes the way judges are appointed to the constitutional court.
Legal Impasse
Last week, Sánchez warned that right-wing parties and conservative judges were trying to trample on democracy and muzzle parliament. He had resorted to legislation to resolve a four-year impasse since a previous convention for the dominant political parties to reach consensus on green-lighting key judicial appointments broke down.
The stalemate is already increasing caseloads and risks the paralysis of the judicial system by preventing the election of judges to lower-level courts as well.
The bill passed last week also ran into a barrage of criticism from Sanchez’s opponents on the political right because it lowers jail time for the crimes of sedition and malfeasance. They claim that will benefit Catalan separatist leaders who backed a bid to declare independence in 2017.
Sánchez relies on votes from the pro-independence party Esquerra Republicana to be able to pass legislation in parliament. Last year, he pardoned nine Catalan separatists jailed for their role in the illegal campaign to split from Spain.
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