UGT and CCOO, related to the government of Pedro Sánchez, deny judicial independence

@ElentirENG ES 5·01·2024 · 19:15 0

If there were any doubts about what socialists and communists intend to do with democracy in Spain, today their unions have said it clearly.

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Sánchez's 'reflexion' gives way to a wave of leftist pressure on judges and media

UGT wants judges to be subject to the Parliament

In the May 1 demonstration called in Madrid by the General Union of Workers (UGT, a socialist union related to the Socialist Party, PSOE) and Workers' Commissions (CCOO, a union linked to the Communist Party of Spain), a call broadcast live on Spanish Television (a channel that all Spaniards pay for), their leaders, José María Álvarez (UGT) and Unai Sordo (CCOO) have openly attacked judicial independence, denying it in their speeches and stating that what is democratic is that the judges are subject to political power.

In his speech, the UGT leader stated that "judges do not elect judges." Álvarez has stated that "the Judiciary is one of the powers of the State that has to be subject to democracy, that has to be subject to the popular sovereignty that resides in the Cortes Generales in our country."

Unai Sordo (CCOO) describes it as “silly” that judges choose judges

In turn, the CCOO leader has described it as "silly" that judges elect judges:"that is not depoliticizing Justice, it is dedemocratizing the Judiciary" . Unai Sordo has compared the independent Justice to a petanque club, "where the members of the petanque club elect the president and the manager among themselves". In addition, he has asked the government and "the parliamentary majority" to "move forward with the renewal of the Judiciary." Here's the video:

An independence necessary to combat political corruption

The separation of powers and judicial independence are two of the pillars of democracy. Justice is one of the dams that democratic societies have against abuses of power by governments, which is why it is necessary for it to be independent of the governments it has the duty to supervise. The European Union, the Council of Europe and the Consultative Council of European Judges have demanded that Spain select the Judiciary by judges, to guarantee their independence.

Let us remember that judicial independence appears in the Spanish Constitution (Article 117) and is also a human right included in Article 10 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights), to guarantee that citizens can be judged without political interference. Furthermore, this independence is a requirement to combat political corruption, since otherwise the judges could be subject to the corrupt politicians whom they must judge, which is what the Spanish left seems to want in the midst of the wave of corruption scandals affecting the Socialist Party.

They want a judicial system typical of authoritarian regimes

Liquidating judicial independence in Spain would indeed be an act of coup plotting, and not what the left has been criticizing in its recent attacks on judges and the media, which they have accused of being "coup plotters" for the mere fact of fulfilling their duty to monitor the action of political power. Those who want a Justice subject to the government do not ask for more democracy, but for a dictatorship, since that is the characteristic of the judicial systems of authoritarian regimes.

It is intolerable that UGT and CCOO, unions that receive multimillion subsidies from the government (paid with public money that comes from the taxes of all Spaniards), are calling to liquidate one of the pillars of democracy in a public event that has also been broadcast on television that all taxpayers pay for. That really has to change. If they want to launch anti-democratic slogans, let them do it with their money, not mine.

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Photo: UGT.