Feijóo makes the decision after Sánchez confirmed in a telephone conversation the reform of the crime of sedition
The Popular Party has decided to suspend negotiations with the PSOE to renew the General Council of the Judiciary (CGPJ) and has offered the President of the Government, Pedro Sánchez, “to address together any reform” of the Penal Code, among which it has included those that affect to the crimes of rebellion and sedition, as well as the criminalization of calling an illegal referendum.
This has been reported by the PP in a statement after the leader of the ‘popular’, Alberto Núñez Feijóo, had a telephone conversation with Sánchez to update the status of the talks for the renewal of the pending bodies and in which, the ‘popular’ have explained, the Prime Minister confirmed the reform of the crime of sedition.
In the conversation, according to the PP, Feijóo has criticized that the head of the Executive announced “wrongly” that the agreement to renew the governing body on Thursdays “was made” while “several relevant and essential issues for the Party were still open Popular”. At a press conference, Sánchez announced this Thursday that the agreement on the CGPJ “is ready” in the absence of the PP “saying yes.”
Specifically, the PP has indicated that Sánchez confirmed to Feijóo the intention that in his legislative agenda he was going to include the reform of the crime of sedition in the Penal Code and that, consequently, “he is not going to renounce its modification” despite “the different versions transferred publicly and privately by different members of the Government”, according to the ‘popular’.
At this point, Feijóo conveyed “his surprise” at the PSOE’s change of position regarding the reform of the Penal Code to reduce the penalties for the crime of sedition. “The Socialist Party, through the interlocutor designated by President Sánchez to address the talks, had conveyed that it was not in its plans to undertake that modification,” the PP insisted.
After the confirmation in the words of Sánchez himself, the president of the PP made the decision to suspend negotiations with the Government to renew the CGPJ. The PP indicates that the suspension will continue “waiting for the PSOE to decide whether in the institutional sphere it wants to advance with a constitutionalist party like the Popular Party or wants to continue hand in hand with parties that seek to weaken the rule of law and break unity.” constitutional”.
In this sense, Feijóo has also offered Sánchez “to address together” any reform of the Penal Code “that affects the crimes of rebellion, sedition, as well as the definition of the crime of calling an illegal referendum”, something that the President of the Government in the last electoral campaign, as recalled by the PP.
In the opinion of the ‘popular’, it is “an insurmountable inconsistency” to agree on “the reinforcement of the rule of law at the same time that it is agreed with other parties to unprotect it”, in references to the independentist formations. “Reforming the law to improve judicial independence is not compatible with reforming the law to tell judges that they have to be condescending to those who rise up against the unity of Spain,” criticized the PP.
At this point, from the formation chaired by Alberto Núñez Feijóo they have indicated that for those people with open cases for the crime of sedition “currently the penalties can already be reduced with the only condition of repentance and the commitment not to reoffend”. “The only purpose of the PSOE with this modification, everything seems to indicate, is a unilateral commitment to independence,” they have assured.
“DEMANDS OF INDEPENDENTISM”
Thus, the PP believes that the decision to incorporate the reform of the Penal Code into the political agenda “at this time” can only “be due to two reasons: either the demands of the independence movement or the vocation to paralyze an agreement to depoliticize Justice that was very advanced and that does not seem to convince the Government”.
“The Popular Party is a State party, which puts the general interest before any personal or partisan interest,” highlighted the statement, which criticized the ways in which Sánchez “solemnly” announced an agreement “that does not yet exist ” and “modify orally and in the media a criterion expressed in a contrary way during the negotiations”. “Confirming that the Penal Code is a tool that he is willing to hand over to the independence movement is not acceptable,” he said.
The main opposition party has stressed that they cannot continue advancing in the negotiations “as long as President Sánchez does not provide sufficient guarantees that he will not continue to use all the powers of the State to pave the way for those who want to fight him.” Finally, he has concluded the statement by pointing out that the PP “remains at the disposal” of the Prime Minister.
A SÁNCHEZ-FEIJÓO MEETING AND THREE WEEKS OF NEGOTIATION
The resignation of the president of the General Council of the Judiciary (CGPJ) and the Supreme Court (TS), Carlos Lesmes, on October 9 -one month after he threatened to leave if there were no tangible advances to renew a CGPJ that has almost four years expired–, was the turning point for the President of the Government, Pedro Sánchez, to summon the leader of the Popular Party, Alberto Núñez Feijóo, to a meeting in order to agree on an agreement to unblock the body of the judges.
The conclave in the Palacio de la Moncloa on October 10 ended after three hours meeting, where the Minister of the Presidency, Relations with the Courts and Democratic Memory, Félix Bolaños, and the institutional deputy secretary of the PP, Esteban González Pons, also joined.
After the meeting, both assured that progress was made to address the renewal of the CGPJ and the TC with a “new framework” that deepens criteria of “independence” and Bolaños assured that it had been agreed to give a “last attempt” to the negotiation to give a quick solution to the relief of the CGPJ.
However, the course of the negotiations has been cut short as a result of the declarations of the Minister of Finance and Deputy Secretary General of the PSOE, María Jesús Montero, who announced this Thursday from the rostrum of Congress, in response to ERC, the commitment of the President of the Government, Pedro Sánchez, to bring to the Lower House a reform of several crimes of the Criminal Code, including sedition, to harmonize them with European standards.
Despite its subsequent rectification in which it has clarified that the Executive will not take a reform of the Criminal Code to the Lower House to reform, among others, the crime of sedition, as long as there is not a majority to be able to approve it.
However, this Thursday the President of the Executive has reaffirmed his willingness to proceed to reform the crime of sedition, and has separated it from the negotiation that was underway with the PP for the renewal of the CGPJ, whose agreement has said that it is missing that the ‘popular’ say yes.
From Pretoria, where he is on an official visit, he has made it clear that one thing is “the legislative agenda”, in which he has framed the Government’s intention to reform sedition, and another is compliance with the Constitution, which includes the renewal of the CGPJ. In the afternoon, after a telephone conversation between both leaders, the PP has decided to suspend the negotiations.
