Just a day before Spanish Supreme Court judge Pablo Llarena has been called to appear in court in Brussels to respond to the civil case brought against him by the exiled Catalan politicians, the leader of the Popular Party (PP), Pablo Casado, is to meet with associations of Spanish judges and prosecutors to address what has gone on with Llarena's defence, and to hear their demands for measures to give them more protection in the future.
The meeting on Monday follows several days in which Casado has criticised the Pedro Sánchez government for its "flip-flops" over its defence of Llarena and has called for justice minister Dolores Delgado to appear in the Spanish congress to respond to its "abandonment" of the judge.
Tuesday at 9:30am is the date and time set by a French-language civil court in Brussels for the preliminary hearing of the civil suit which former Catalan president Carles Puigdemont and four of his ministers have brought against Llarena. Their demand is that the judge, conducting the investigative part of the rebellion case against the Catalan leaders, should compensate them - with the symbolic amount of 1 euro - for his alleged lack of impartiality in the case.
The handling of the question by the Spanish justice ministry has caused significant tension in Pedro Sánchez's executive, which had been initially opposed to defending the judge presencially - on the basis that the suit is based on statements made by Llarena as a private individual - but then decided to hire a legal team in Belgium at a cost to the public purse of over half a million euros, with the task of defending both the sovereignty of Spanish courts and the judge himself.