Spain definitively adopts an amnesty law in favor of Catalan separatists

This flagship measure of Pedro Sánchez’s government will thus allow the return of separatists, including the highly publicized Carles Puigdemont, in exile since the aborted secession of 2017.

A final session of around two hours, in an electric atmosphere and marked by insults. On Thursday, May 30, Spanish deputies definitively adopted an amnesty law in favor of Catalan separatists.

This flagship measure of the left-wing government of Pedro Sánchez will thus allow the return of the separatists, including the highly publicized Carles Puigdemont, in exile since the aborted secession of 2017. The text was approved by 177 votes to 172, the absolute majority being 176 .

This vote by the Congress of Deputies, where Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez has an absolute majority thanks to the support of the two Catalan independence parties, is the culmination of a long battle which has dominated and radicalized Spanish political life since the elections. from July 2023.

The deputies had already adopted the amnesty bill on March 14, but the Senate, controlled by the right-wing opposition, vetoed it two months later, sending the text back to the lower house, which therefore had the last word. The People’s Party, the main opposition group, and the far-right Vox party delivered a last stand before the vote, denouncing a “political corruption”.

For their part, the two Catalan independence parties warned that this amnesty was not the end of their fight for independence, but a simple step. This vote is “a battle in the centuries-old conflict between the two nations”Catalan and Spanish, declared the spokesperson for Carles Puigdemont’s party (Together for Catalonia), Miriam Nogueras, referring to “a historic day”.

His counterpart Gabriel Rufián, from the Republican Left of Catalonia (ERC), the other Catalan independence party, warned that the “next stop” on the road to independence was the organization of a referendum.

For his part, the Spanish Prime Minister says the amnesty aims to end the instability born from Catalonia’s failed attempt to unilaterally proclaim its independence in October 2017, when the regional government was led by Carles Puigdemont, who lives since in exile. “In politics as in life, forgiveness is more powerful than resentment”commented Pedro Sánchez on the social network. “Spain is today more prosperous and more united than in 2017”he added.