Overview

• A five-member team opened two days of meetings on Monday with the CGPJ leadership, Supreme Court magistrates, judicial associations, civil society groups, and later with lawmakers in the Congress and Senate.
• Conservative vocales told the visitors that recent criticism of judges by the prime minister reinforces their call to overhaul how judicial members are chosen.
• One plan from conservatives would have the 12 judicial members elected directly by judges, with Parliament choosing only the eight jurist seats, and it allows individual candidates with 25 endorsements or a single association endorsement.
• The progressive proposal keeps parliamentary approval for the 12 judicial seats after a judiciary-wide participation phase requiring 30 endorsements for individual candidates and a shortlist sent to the Cortes.
• The delegation includes Marta Cartabia, Regina Kiener, François Séners, Simona Granata-Menghini, and Taras Pashuk, and its report will inform a 9–10 October debate that precedes a non-binding opinion.