Overview
- Conservative vocales in the Consejo General del Poder Judicial proposed a formal declaration backing Judge Beatriz Biedma but the nine progressive vocales refused to debate or sign the text on Wednesday.
- The conservative text expressed 'profound concern' about reported harassment and sought to convey institutional solidarity to Biedma while saying it would not prejudge facts under investigation.
- Progressive vocales said the council must remain strictly neutral on matters under judicial inquiry and argued that any public statement could appear to pre-judge evidence in the Audiencia Nacional proceedings.
- Because the plenary could not agree, the CGPJ president withdrew agenda items on appointing six vacant Supreme Court seats and on renewing the council’s internal commissions, delaying key court administration decisions.
- The dispute comes as Biedma has been declared a perjudicada in the related Audiencia Nacional probe, has received Interior Ministry protection, and saw Judge Santiago Pedraz impute expelled judge José Luis Sáenz de Tejada, a sequence that both sharpens the council’s dilemma and raises questions about trust and governance in the judiciary.