This time, instead of a group of men in black, it’s just two women and Italian Valentina Grippo and Serbian Elvira Kovac who landed in Madrid this Tuesday. Mission of the Council of Europe Checking and evaluating the health of Spain’s democracy … Determine the seriousness of corruption and determine whether our country complies with its obligations as a member of the aforementioned institutions.
Their trip will last three days and include meetings in the capital and Barcelona, with highlights including meetings with the foreign and justice ministries and Popular Party leader Alberto Nuñez Feijó. of Candido Conde Pumpido Constitutional CourtJosep Ruhl from the Catalan Parliament.
Grippo and Kovac’s agenda couldn’t be more packed. This week began at midday on Wednesday with a meeting with representatives of civil society, followed by lunch in the House of Commons with members of the Spanish delegation to the Council of Europe, followed by a meeting with the House of Commons Constitution Committee. The last two cases are chaired by two socialists, the first by Antonio Gutiérrez Limones and the second by Pepe Zaragoza.
After all this, Grippo and Kovacs left Carrera de San Jerónimo and headed for Via Genova. Nuñez Feijó was waiting for them there, and they ended the day with a long talk.
This Thursday’s round will begin with an interview at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, followed by an interview with the President at the Constitutional Court. Candido Conde Pumpido; Juan Carlos Duque, deputy general secretary of the agency, and Joaquín Vives de la Cortada, secretary of the presidential cabinet. Mr. Grippo and Mr. Kovac will continue to be involved in the judicial world and will meet with members of the General Council of the Judiciary before addressing the Senate.
The Senate will have a second lunch with the Spanish delegation. Council of Europe General AssemblyThe agenda in Madrid will then conclude with a meeting with Sofia Puente, Secretary General for Judicial Innovation and Quality of Public Services, at the Ministry of Justice, the Office of the President and the Ministry of Relations with the Courts. -Sister of Transport Minister Oscar Puente- and Maria del Camino Vidal Hueyo, Director of Constitutional Affairs and Legal Coordination.
From the Ministry of Felix Bolaños they go to Atocha and travel to Barcelona. So he plans to start the agenda tomorrow at Friday’s meeting. Parliament of Catalonia with members of the European Union and External Action Committee. The group will then meet with Mr. Josep Lull, followed by Jaume Duchess, Minister for External Affairs of the Central Government, and conclude the visit with a meeting with civil society representatives.
There will be a second trip
This trip is part of the exam. council of europe This is carried out by Spain to determine its “fulfillment of its obligations as a member state” and is part of the “Periodic Monitoring Review” process established by the body in 2013 and which is being implemented in stages for member states.
Among the issues to be discussed during the visit will be “corruption and the policies and mechanisms in place to combat corruption.” However, the scandal surrounding the PSOE and the government has caused so much alarm within the Council of Europe that Grippo and Kovac will later return to Spain to conduct their analysis exclusively “on the ground.”
And at the end of June last year, the agency decided to analyze whether corruption had reached the stage of representing the state. Threats to Spain’s rule of law. The initiative was advanced by a motion by Spanish Senator Carmen Leite (PP) and was supported by parliamentarians from 12 other countries, who shared the recognition that the situation was an “emergency”. Only a few weeks ago, a report by the Civil Guard Central Operations Unit (UCO) regarding the former head of the PSOE organization, Santos Cerdan, became known.
complaint
“Spain is currently one of the countries most affected by corruption. New scandals are revealed every day, and actors seek to undermine the independence of judges, control the police and media, and discredit the public prosecutor’s office, which is also implicated in these scandals,” the motion warns. Combating corruption in our democracy“We are paying particular attention to the situation in Spain,” he emphasizes.
“For the Council of Europe, corruption has always been one of the greatest enemies of democracy. This scourge weakens the Council by driving people away from politics, undermining trust in institutions and affecting coexistence,” he argued, going on to point out that populists were using corruption “as a pretext to change our constitutional order.”
Grippo and Kovac made careful preparations for this trip to Spain. On September 9, they held a closed-door meeting in Paris and summoned Sophie Myudal-Lenders, head of the country report for the National Group Against Corruption (Greco). Its purpose was to exchange “views” on whether the government had implemented the recommendations made by the agency regarding the prevention of corruption.
This response once again put Spain in a very bad position. The latest report accuses the chief executive of not continuing to fully comply with any of El Greco’s 19 recommendations made in 2019. In addition to the Cerdan Abalos Cordo incident, other issues that the Attorney General is having regarding the judiciary were brought to light during the session. Brother of Pedro Sanchez and his wife Begoña Gomez.
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