MadridThe names of Ana Ferrer and Pilar Teso, considered close to the PSOE, cause itching in the Spanish judicial right. It was confirmed when the new General Council of the Judiciary (CGPJ) had to choose a new presidency and the progressive bloc put them on the table. Isabel Perelló, a magistrate whom no one counted on at the outset, had to be called upon to break the deadlock in the judges’ governing body. The casting is likely to repeat itself now that it is time to choose four presidencies of the Supreme Court, with two particularly delicate ones, the second and the third. In the latter, Teso and Pablo Lucas compete again, as they did for the CGPJ.
In the second, the criminal court, its president, Manuel Marchena, ends his term next December 5 and Ferrer and Andrés Martínez-Arrieta, the most veteran member, are applying. Aged 69, he would retire before completing his five-year term if elected. A circumstance that the progressive sector interprets as a reason not to elect him. On the right, on the other hand, they maintain that Martínez Arrieta starts with the advantage of being the first on the ladder of the judicial career. The conservative sector of the CGPJ, full of members of the Professional Association of the Magistrature (APM), point out that Arrieta is a member of the Francisco de Vitoria Judicial Association and rejects him being considered as their candidate, although it is clear that Ana Ferrer would be even less so.
Ferrer discusses Marchena
This judge, a member of Judges for Democracy and close to the president of the Constitutional Court, Cándido Conde-Pumpido, has just issued a private vote against Marchena’s decision not to grant amnesty to the leaders of the Process for embezzlement, with harsh criticism of the majority position . For the first time, unanimity was broken in the decisions of the Supreme Court on this case. Ferrer again aspires to a relevant government position at the risk of receiving another setback. The progressive block already yielded to the benefit of unlocking the presidency of the CGPJ, will it do it again now so that the election of Marchena’s successor does not take forever? One hypothesis of Ferrer’s attempt is that she will be the favorite when Arrieta retires.
Sources from the two sectors consulted by the ARA assure that the respective strategies have not yet been drawn up. Which presidency will the sector close to the Spanish government want to win, yes or no, Ferrer’s in the second room, or Teso’s in the third? Or on the contrary: Which presidency will the conservative bloc cede in any case? The chosen candidate needs to gather a minimum of 13 votes from the plenary, so a pact is necessary between the two groups, made up of 10 members each – with the presidency, 21–.
The second room is particularly relevant due to the fact that it is the penal room and where the accused are tried. Basically the deputies and members of the State government, but also the attorney general, who is now precisely under investigation. In fact, this Tuesday there was something new in his case: Álvaro García Ortiz has requested the statement as a witness of Isabel Díaz Ayuso’s chief of staff, Miguel Ángel Rodríguez, in the case for disclosure of secrets in which he is being investigated in the Supreme Court, as it has progressed The Vanguard.
The parity
Before the negotiations began, the progressive sector did propose that of the four appointments, two should be women to comply with the parity law. The first room is already certain to be for the only candidate, Ignacio Sancho, linked to Opus Dei. On the other hand, the conservatives interpret that parity must be fulfilled in the whole of the Supreme – counting all its members – and not specifically in the presidencies of the room. Perelló has already requested a report from the legal services to establish a criterion.
