2023-12-04 23:19:47
MadridJosé María Macías (Barcelona, 1964), magistrate on leave and lawyer of the Cuatrecasas firm, was director general of contentious matters of the Generalitat between 2002 and 2003. Now he is the singing voice of the conservative bloc of the General Council of the Judiciary and what Pedro Sánchez has in the target.
What image does the CGPJ give with five years of mandate exhausted?
— The image is not the best possible with this situation of political actors’ lack of ability to reach an agreement.
The PSOE wants to renew and the PP does not.
— This is a trap. I think they all want to renew, the conditions are another thing.
Why should conditions be imposed?
— Consensus is needed on why the CGPJ is being renewed. The first milestone is to achieve the depoliticization of the body. It seems that there is a part that does not agree, quite the contrary.
Why should we talk about depoliticization now and not on previous occasions?
— It is true that the PP has had previous occasions to solve this situation. Mariano Rajoy rejected a proposal from former minister Alberto Ruiz-Gallardón. Now, having done it wrong in the past is no reason to continue doing it wrong.
With what formula?
— The one recommended by Europe: that the election of the judges be made directly by the judges.
Preventing the associations from having the domain?
– Of couse. This is why proportional systems exist.
How do you see the way to lower the majorities to choose the members?
— It is barbaric and has already provoked a vehement reaction from the European Commission. It would make all three powers answer to the same will. It was so obvious that Sánchez backed away.
Is it preferable to maintain the blockade than to lower the majorities?
— Lowering the majorities implies the total and absolute destruction of any semblance of a division of powers. The CGPJ could disappear from that moment.
Disappear?
— At the moment you have a CGPJ that responds to the majorities that support the government, where is the separation of powers?
Is mass resignation an option?
— I will not incur a crime of continuous abandonment of service. Judges who propose this should be ashamed to call themselves judges.
Does it contribute to politicization that the conservative bloc systematically questions the government?
— The day Pablo Iglesias took office [el 2020, com a vicepresident] he denigrated the judiciary and provoked the reaction of the CGPJ to ask him to be quiet and calm. From there, we could say nothing about a law that was supposedly aimed at stiffening the punishment of rapists, despite the fact that it led to prison terms for thousands of rapists. If there is any action where the CGPJ is considered to have exceeded his duties or said something that has not been confirmed, we can talk.
Last week they declared the Attorney General unfit for the first time. Are the requirements not to be a lawyer of recognized prestige with 15 years of experience?
— There are regulated requirements and suitability requirements. The Supreme Court has confirmed that he used the position to get a lady to whom he literally said he was in personal debt [Dolores Delgado] become a district attorney.
They also criticized the amnesty before it was registered in Congress.
— It had never been done, but also never before had a candidate for president of the government expressed flatly, as Sánchez did, that he was ready to sell the impunity of a gentleman persecuted by justice as a formula to buy the presidency of the government
Do you trust that the TC will reject it?
— The TC has a role that may not be the most suitable to carry out this control. His is purely abstract and formal: he will contrast what is in the law and what the statement of reasons says. But if it is contrasted with the reality that justified Sánchez, the conclusion could be different. The CJEU, which has the function of preserving the integrity of the Union and that its treaties are fulfilled, usually does not have a blindfold. And if it is removed, it may end up considering whether the purpose of the law is not that of the statement of reasons, but what Sánchez stated.
Do you think that the TC will declare the constitutionality of the law, moreover, because the PSOE has colonized it?
— [Riu] I have the advantage that I don’t need to screw myself up like politicians screw up. One day they asked me if I would go into politics and I make a very good living without doing politics.
But if the CGPJ is politicized, do politics, right?
— Yes, yes, totally. I always say that an organ is the appearance it provides. If the public perceives that the CGPJ is politicized, it is because it is. Appearances define reality. And I say the same about the Constitutional Court.
Do you support that the judges themselves speak out against the amnesty?
— The agreement states that the judges will be prosecuted by the parties using parliamentary commissions of inquiry. If the judges don’t show up after that…
Has García-Castellón made moves to stop the amnesty?
— I will never comment on the jurisdictional work of a judge. I can only step in if a deviation occurs outside the strict exercise of jurisdiction.
Do you think there will be lawsuits against judges for prevarication?
— If any citizen considers that a judge must do something and does not do it by committing a crime, that is why there are complaints. But what would be worrying is that it is done through parliamentary commissions of inquiry. Having included this possibility in the agreement already produces an effect of threat, of intimidation, of “Judges, be careful that, if someone deviates, we will set up an investigation commission and he will pay the consequences because his responsibility we will declare.” This threat in itself, made by a fugitive from justice, because like any other person who flees from the action of justice, you cannot expect a different behavior; but what is incomprehensible is that it is shared by a government.
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