The Commissioner of Justice, Didier Reynders, will delay the leave of absence until April 25 without salary that must be accepted to compete for head of the Council of Europe (CoE), with the aim of attempting a last mediation effort between the PSOE and the PP that will allow the renewal of the General Council of the Judiciary (CGPJ) to be unblocked.
The commissioner “is still available to continue the dialogue” between the PSOE and PPcommunity sources consulted have told Europa Press after the announcement of the postponement of the leave of absence, although they point out that “nothing has been decided yet” regarding when and how they will resume contactsafter a fourth meeting this week was frustrated due to lack of progress.
When last Monday Reynders learned that his name remained on the shortlist of finalists to lead the Council of Europe (a body outside the EU but which the institutions listen to when setting their rule of law standards), the commissioner asked the head of the community Executive, Ursula von der Leyen, for an unpaid leave of absence.
In a response that It took several days to arrivethe German conservative has accepted Reynders' request this Wednesday at the last minute within the deadlines proposed for it, the Commission has reported, without clarifying who will take over starting April 25.
According to the rules of the Code of Conduct of the members of the Commission, Reynders must refrain from participating directly or indirectly in any activity related to his career to be elected general secretary of the CoE, a campaign that will begin on April 25 when He also begins his leave of absence. You will also not be able to use community resources or your official profiles on social networks to promote your candidacy.
Meeting in Madrid postponed without date
The news comes precisely the same day that The Belgian liberal planned to travel to Madrid to meet in person with the PSOE and PP negotiators -the Minister of the Presidency, Justice and Relations with the Cortes, Félix Bolaños, and the Deputy Secretary of Institutional Action of the PP, Esteban González Pons, to address the unblocking of the CGPJ in a fourth meeting.
With the tickets for him and his team already purchased, Last Friday Reynders chose to postpone the meeting at the request of the Popular Party, according to what community sources informed Europa Press, and after the commissioner confirmed that the parties “needed time” before seeing each other again. The postponement without a date, they stressed from Brussels, “not at all” had to do with the commissioner's agenda.
During the days in which Reynders' mediation has remained in the air until the deadlines for his leave of absence are known, Brussels has maintained that in any case the institution “remained available” to facilitate dialogue between the PSOE and the PP in the interests of an agreement that ends more than five years of blockade.
The commissioner himself, after the last meeting held with Bolaños and González Pons in Strasbourg (France), stated that he saw an agreement as possible and that he liked to finish the tasks he began.
When Von der Leyen gave the green light to mediation in January, Reynders established a “structured dialogue” to limit the talks solely to the situation of the CGPJ and set a two-month deadline that expires at the end of this Marchbut for Brussels it is not immovable and can be extended if it is to close a definitive agreement.
