Contrary to the well-established principle of separation of powers, the Spanish Constitutional Court has judicial and legislative power. The decisions of the Spanish Constitutional Court have the force of law and are published in the Spanish Official Gazette (Boletín Oficial del Estado, BOE). The twelve judges, each appointed for nine years, are proposed by Congress (four judges), the Senate (four judges), the government (two judges) and the General Council of the Judiciary («Consejo General del Poder Judicial"») and appointed by the King of Spain. Since ten of the twelve judges are in fact nominated by the two major political parties, the Partido Popular and the PSOE, the Constitutional Court is perceived by the public as a politically dependent institution that many Spaniards do not consider independent.
Spain has already used the Constitutional Court several times to restrict the rights of the Catalan nation and also other peoples living in the Spanish multi-ethnic state and to prosecute their politicians for political reasons with the means of the judiciary, contrary to the human rights covenants of the United Nations, to which Spain has unconditionally submitted, and contrary to the Spanish Constitution, which guarantees these human rights, including the right of all peoples to self-determination. The way in which this has been done in violation of existing law is probably unique in Europe. In October 2017, for example, the democratically elected Catalan government was deposed and the democratically elected Catalan parliament was dissolved in breach of an organic law of the Spanish state that has constitutional status, in clear violation of the Spanish constitution and higher-ranking United Nations law. The major Spanish parties could always rely on the support of the Spanish Constitutional Court when it came to putting Spain's Catalan colony in its place and preventing Catalonia's state independence in the form of a democratic republic.
Now the Spanish Constitutional Court, which had already banned the Catalan parliament from parliamentary debates on certain issues as well as certain resolutions under threat of punishment, is also turning against the Spanish social democratic government. At the request of the right-wing conservative Partido Popular, the Constitutional Court, only a few hours before the appointment of two new constitutional judges, prohibited a bill introduced by the Spanish government to reform Spanish criminal law from being passed on to the Spanish Senate. This also halted a reform of the appointment of constitutional judges, which would probably have led to a different majority in the Spanish Constitutional Court. The court thus remains under the control of judges close to the right-wing conservative Partido Popular.
The Spanish monarchy is increasingly showing its true face. One can hardly call the Spanish critocracy, the rule of the judges, a «democracy», and conditions under the rule of law as in Great Britain or France do not exist in Spain, at least when it comes to Catalonia. The Spanish conditions are a disgrace for the European Union, which tolerates and even supports them, while other member states of the European Union such as Poland or Hungary are heavily criticised, although the conditions there are by no means comparable to the abuses in Spain.
A country that breaks its own constitutional law, until recently had political prisoners and persecutes political dissidents with the means of a judiciary that can hardly be called constitutional has no place in the European Union and, in particular, should not receive any funding from the European Union as long as it does not effectively fight corruption, enable constitutional structures to function and guarantee respect for human rights, including the human right of the Catalan people to self-determination.
In a functioning democracy, CatalanGate alone would have long since led to the resignation of the government and disciplinary measures against all officials who violated fundamental rights in such a serious way!
https://www.heise.de/tp/features/UNO-Spanien-hat-gegen-Grundrechte-verstossen-7253028.html
If the European Union does not act decisively against the abuses in Spain, it will lose its credibility among the peoples of Europe and the world and sooner or later disintegrate. Those who remain silent agree!
https://taz.de/Justiz-in-Spanien/!5900802/
https://overton-magazin.de/top-story/spanien-justizputsch-des-verfassungsgerichts/
https://www.eldiario.es/escolar/democracia-atropellada-tribunal-constitucional_132_9808520.html