A member responds that he does not consider himself entitled to appeal or defend the decisions of the Plenary in court
MADRID, 27 Oct. (EUROPA PRESS) –
The Supreme Court (TS) has summoned the 16 members who voted for Rafael Mozo as interim president of the General Council of the Judiciary (CGPJ), after the resignation of Carlos Lesmes, to appear as co-defendants for the appeals presented by the only member who Voted against, Wenceslao Olea, and the secretary of the CGPJ, José Luis de Benito, against said appointment.
According to the legal sources consulted by Europa Press, it is a common procedure by which when the contentious-administrative procedure is launched and all the information related to the case is collected -the administrative file– it is offered to all people who have participated in it appear as defendants or plaintiffs.
In this case, the sources explain that De Benito pointed out these 16 members as possible parties interested in appearing as co-defendants, which is why the Supreme Court has made the aforementioned offer.
The sources warn that it could be a procedural maneuver to anchor the issue of legitimacy, since it is not clear that Olea and De Benito can challenge the agreement adopted on October 13 by the CGPJ Plenary to elevate Mozo.
One of those 16 members, José María Macías, has already answered to clarify that he will not appear as co-defendant, according to a letter this Thursday, to which Europa Press has had access.
“In the same way that I lack a legitimate personal interest to be a plaintiff against the decisions of the Plenary of the CGPJ to which I belong as a member, and that nothing confers on me the status of guardian in the abstract of legality to appeal the decisions of which may disagree legally, for the same reason I lack a legitimate personal interest to be a defendant and become a defender, in a personal capacity, of the Council’s decisions”, he argued.
The sources of the governing body of the judges consulted by this news agency point out that, most likely, the members who respond to this summons do so on the same line and that some do not even answer directly.
Both Olea and De Benito appealed the aforementioned agreement and asked the Supreme Court to suspend Mozo’s appointment as “alternate president” as a precautionary measure. The Sixth Section of the Contentious-Administrative Chamber rejected this request because it does not believe that it causes “irreparable damage” in the “legal sphere” of the appellants, for which reason it decided to process it through ordinary precautionary measures, which implies listen to the parties.
However, the high court has not yet ruled on the merits of the appeals against the plenary agreement, which went ahead with 16 of the 18 votes at stake, since Olea was the only one who voted against and the other dissenting member , Mar Cabrejas, chose to absent himself from the vote, considering that it was illegal.
On the same day the 13th, Olea issued a separate vote in which he already advanced that, in his opinion, splitting the presidencies of the CGPJ and the TS after the departure of Lesmes is illegal because the Constitution and the Organic Law of the Judiciary (LOPJ) impose that whoever exercises that of the Supreme should also exercise that of the Council.
Likewise, it showed that Mozo “does not meet any” of the legal conditions to establish himself as president, that is, to be a member of the judicial career with the category of magistrate of the TS and meet the requirements to be president of the Chamber of the same, or be a lawyer of recognized competence with more than 25 years of seniority in the exercise of his profession.
Olea also warned that with the appointment of Mozo the “legality” of the agreements adopted from now on by the Council was at stake, thus anticipating a judicialization of the conflict that has finally materialized with two challenges.
The succession conflict broke out on October 9, when Lesmes announced his resignation as president of the CGPJ and TS — positions held by the same person — due to the lack of tangible progress in the negotiations between PSOE and PP to renew the governing body of the judges, as he had warned during the opening of the judicial year, on September 7.
Lesmes tried to leave his succession tied by commissioning a report from the Technical Office of the TS that would determine how he should be replaced. The experts concluded that the same person should replace him in both positions and pointed to Judge Francisco Marín Castán for being the one who temporarily holds the Vice Presidency of the Supreme Court.
However, the CGPJ appointed its own president arguing that Marín Castán lacks legitimacy to assume both presidencies because he has held the Vice Presidency of the Supreme Court on an interim basis since 2019. For the same reasons, the members conceded that Mozo will not be able to act as the highest authority of the Supreme Court either. TS.
The bicephaly was staged on October 18 during the inauguration of Dolores Delgado as court prosecutor in the TS. The act was presided over by Marín Castán, who occupied the main seat of the court; while Mozo sat in a secluded chair that is destined for the representatives of the Judicial Power who come dressed in robes to solemn celebrations.
