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SPAIN’S left-wing coalition government today slammed an “unprecedented” decision taken by the Constitutional Court to halt passage of judicial reform legislation through parliament.
The court ruled after a nine-hour session yesterday to halt passage of laws that would affect the way judges are elected to particular courts, including itself, in response to an appeal by the right-wing opposition Popular Party (PP).
Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez said the opposition intended to “retain by spurious means power that the citizens denied them in elections.”
While the constitutional court routinely stalls and scrutinises legislation that has been passed, with laws on abortion, euthanasia and education all currently on its plate, to block the legislative process in advance is a first since Spain’s democratic transition from fascism in the 1970s.
The Communist Party of Spain, a partner in the coalition government, said the ruling was “a blow to sovereignty.
“The alliance between the extreme political right of the PP and the extreme right of [far-right party] Vox, the judicial right, the media right and the conservative members of the Constitutional Court, prevents the legitimate representatives of the people from exercising their powers,” it said.
“We call on all democrats to mobilise to demand from the political and judicial right an end to the attacks on democracy.”
Both ruling and opposition parties have a say in naming judges in Spain, but disagreement has blocked the renewal of the General Council of the Judiciary.
The terms of office of four Constitutional Court judges including its president have expired, but conservatives are unwilling to see them replaced by figures seen as more left-wing.
