To Stop Him or Not

Today at Berria:

Constitutional Court begins analysing whether to stop Ibarretxe’s plan going ahead

Its deliberations will continue today; if it decides that the appeal should go ahead, the debate on the plan or proposal for a new Political Statute will be suspended

Editorial Staff – DONOSTIA (San Sebastian)

The Spanish Constitutional Court began deliberating yesterday whether to proceed with the appeal filed by the Spanish Government against the proposal for a new Political Statute of the Government of the BAC (Basque Autonomous Community of Araba, Bizkaia and Gipuzkoa). If the Court decides to proceed with the appeal, it will not be possible for the BAC Parliament to debate the Proposal for a Political Statute for the next five months, at least. In fact, if the appeal goes ahead, the court will be bound by its own regulations to order the suspension of the provisions, resolutions or acts that have originated the conflict. The Court did not complete its deliberations yesterday and will be continuing today.

The Constitutional Court’s twelve judges were due to begin deliberating at 10.30 hours. Guillermo Jimenez, the Constitutional Court Judge, was responsible for presenting the report for discussion, and information leaked to the press appears to indicate that he supports the Spanish Government’s appeal. The President of the Constitutional Court, Manuel Jimenez de Parga, is also said to share the same opinion. Seven of the total of twelve judges are expected to vote in favour of the appeal filed by the Spanish Government, another two are undecided and three could vote against, according to the same sources. If that were the case, the Court would proceed with the Spanish Government’s appeal. The Spanish Government is asking the Constitutional Court to invalidate the BAC Government’s proposal and to suspend the proceedings approved by the Presiding Committee of the BAC Parliament. If the Constitutional Court decides to proceed with one or the other, parliamentary debate on the subject would be suspended.

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