Tension grows in the General Council of the Judiciary (CGPJ). The member José María Fernández Seijo, one of the eight who were elected a year ago at the initiative of the PSOE, threatens to resign from the position, as announced The World. Different sources consulted by elDiario.es confirm that the member has presented a letter of resignation to the president, Isabel Perelló, although his group mates are mobilizing for him to reconsider his decision. An official spokesperson for the CGPJ affirms that, at the moment, there is no letter of resignation from this member in the Registry of the body.
Fernández Seijo is a Commercial Judge in Barcelona. He was a pioneer in bringing evictions and abusive mortgage clauses to the European courts. He is associated with Judges for Democracy. During the mandate, he had served as the group's shadow leader. His possible resignation represents “a huge break,” explains a member proposed by the PSOE.
This morning nine progressive members – including Fernández Seijo – have released a harsh statement in which they accuse President Perelló of having “abruptly and deliberately” imposed a change in rules that “excludes” them from the new distribution of power in the governing body of judges.
The origin of the conflict is in the new composition of the different commissions in which the work of the body is organized. That composition was approved this Thursday with the votes of the conservative group, the president and one of the members chosen at the initiative of Sumar Carlos Hugo Preciado.
With the new distribution, nine of the eleven commissions have a conservative majority. Among them, the most relevant, the Permanent, a kind of hard core where many important decisions are made. The progressives had a proposal that ended up being withdrawn. There was not even a vote. They proposed that this bloc – which until now was in a minority in the Permanent Party – become a majority: four progressive members and three conservatives. That proposal also meant the entry of Fernández Seijo.
The law of the Judiciary establishes that the members will “only” cease from their positions after the five years for which they were appointed, due to “accepted resignation” by the president or due to incapacity, incompatibility or serious breach of the duties of the position, appreciated by three-fifths of the plenary session. That is, your resignation will in no case be automatic, since it has to be accepted by the president.