The PP will take advantage of its absolute majority in the Senate to initiate the processing of an organic law proposal that modifies the system for electing the members of the General Council of the Judiciary (CGPJ), with the aim that the twelve members of judicial background be chosen directly by judges and magistrates.
The proposal, which will be debated in the Plenary Session this Wednesday, proposes a reform of the Organic Law of the Judiciary in order to adjust the Spanish model to the recommendations made by various European bodies regarding judicial independence.
According to the text registered by the 'populars', to which Europa Press has had access, the CGPJ will continue to be composed of twenty members and the president of the Supreme Court, but the system for electing the twelve members of the judicial branch will be altered, and they will be appointed by direct suffrage by members of the judicial career.
The other eight members, four from each Chamber and with more than fifteen years of professional practice, will continue to be elected by Congress and the Senate, by a three-fifths majority of their respective members.
In this regard, the initiative specifies that all judges and magistrates in "active" service may participate in the vote and that the elections will be carried out by "personal, free, equal, direct, and secret" suffrage. In turn, candidacies may be promoted by both judicial associations and independent candidates.
The articles also include provisions to ensure the presence of the different categories of the judicial career and the principle of balanced representation between men and women.
In addition, the creation of an Electoral Board is contemplated, responsible for supervising the entire procedure, processing and resolving claims, and proclaiming the elected members.
Adaptation to European recommendations
In the explanatory statement, the PP argues that the reform addresses the "repeated" recommendations of European institutions such as the European Commission, the Group of States against Corruption (GRECO), and the Venice Commission, which advocate for judicial representatives of the judiciary councils to be elected by their own peers and without interference from political powers.
The 'popular' recall that the current CGPJ sent in 2025 a report with various reform alternatives in compliance with the mandate included in the last modification of the Organic Law of the Judiciary, although sufficient consensus was not reached to put forward a single proposal.
In this scenario, the 'popular' maintain that the Government has not promoted the changes demanded by European bodies and maintain that it is now up to the Cortes Generales to move forward with a legislative modification that reinforces the independence of the governing body of judges.
Formulas to avoid new blockages
In parallel, the proposal incorporates a clause aimed at preventing blockages in the Council's renewal processes.
Thus, it is foreseen that the CGPJ may be constituted and carry out its functions even when the Cortes Generales have not completed the election of the eight members from the jurists' turn within the deadline, so that the outgoing Council members belonging to the Chamber that had not made the appointments would be provisionally maintained.
The initiative also sets that the mandates will have a duration of five years and reinforces the mechanisms aimed at "guaranteeing the transparency and information of the electoral process".
According to the PP, the reform seeks to consolidate judicial "independence" and align the Spanish system with European standards in the election of the judiciary's governing bodies.