MPs reject at first reading the bill on amnesty for Catalan separatists

It is a stinging setback for the socialist Spanish Prime Minister, Pedro Sanchez. On Tuesday January 30, MPs rejected the amnesty bill for Catalan separatists. Paradoxically, it was the party of the independentist Carles Puigdemont, Junts per Catalunya, which voted against this controversial bill, considering that it did not guarantee the application of the amnesty to its leader, the main figure of the attempted secession of Catalonia in 2017.

The independence party demanded the vote on amendments intended to counter the judicial offensive by two magistrates seeking to prevent the application of this measure to Carles Puigdemont. The socialists having refused, Junts per Catalunya voted against the bill which received only 171 votes in favor while the required majority was 176 votes out of 350.

Return to parliamentary committee

This rejection at first reading does not mean the abandonment of the text, which will have to return to the parliamentary committee where it can be modified. Nevertheless, it illustrates the permanent pressure to which Junts per Catalunya subjects the executive, deprived of a majority without the support of its seven deputies. This amnesty bill was a condition demanded by the Catalan separatists in exchange for their essential support for the mid-November reappointment of Pedro Sanchez for a new mandate.

If Parliament ultimately adopts it, this text should make it possible to stop legal proceedings against hundreds of separatist activists and leaders for their involvement in the secession attempt. Among them is Carles Puigdemont, who fled to Belgium more than six years ago to escape these prosecutions.