The amnesty law for hundreds of Catalan separatists, vital for the stability of Pedro Sánchez’s left-wing executive and its ability to govern, took a first key step on Thursday in the Spanish Parliament.
This amnesty measure has been the central theme of Spanish politics since the early legislative elections in July, which did not allow either of the two major parties — the Socialists of Mr. Sánchez and the Popular Party (right) of Alberto Núñez Feijóo — to have an absolute majority, leaving them at the mercy of regional parties.
The two separatist parties in Catalonia (north-east) then made an amnesty measure for their activists involved in the region’s abortive secession attempt in 2017 the price of their support for Mr. Sánchez to be returned to power , which he accepted.
Negotiations have not stopped since then between the socialists and these two Catalan parties: Together for Catalonia (JxCat), of Carles Puigdemont, who has lived in exile in Belgium since 2017 to escape Spanish justice, and the Republican Left of Catalonia (ERC).
A first version of this amnesty law was rejected on January 30 by the deputies, paradoxically due to the opposition of Mr. Puigdemont’s seven deputies, who considered that the text did not offer sufficient guarantees to allow the return of their leader from his Belgian exile.
Mr. Sánchez therefore had to agree to reopen negotiations, the support of Catalan separatists being essential for him to pass laws in Parliament, starting with the budget for 2024, which has still not been voted on.
After tough negotiations, the socialists, ERC and Junts announced Wednesday evening that they had agreed on a new version of the amnesty law.
“Internationalization” of the law
On Thursday, the Justice Committee of the lower house gave the green light to this text by 20 votes to 17, thus allowing it to be submitted in the coming days – probably as early as next week – to a vote by Congress deputies.
If the bill is adopted, it will then go to the Senate, where the PP, with a majority in the upper house, has promised to delay the adoption of this measure as much as possible, against which it is opposed. This guarantees a process of several months before the measure becomes law.
The challenge for Mr. Sánchez was to make the changes required to allay the fears of Mr. Puigdemont — against whom Spain’s highest court announced last week the opening of an investigation for “terrorism” — while ensuring that the new version is not challenged by the Spanish Constitutional Court or European justice.
To resolve this squaring of the circle, the negotiators eliminated any reference to the very restrictive Spanish Penal Code, replacing it with European standards (2017 European Directive and European Convention on Human Rights) with regard to terrorism offenses, for which amnesty remains excluded.
“We have internationalized the law”, which had “holes” in its previous version, explained Junts spokesperson in the Congress of Deputies, Miriam Noguera.
Until now, she continued in an interview on public television, “those of us who defend the independence of Catalonia are accused of terrorism only for having demonstrated”, while “international law defines clearly what terrorism is.
“World reference”
For his part, the Minister of Justice, Félix Bolaños, assured that this law was “impeccable, constitutional and compliant with European law”, and predicted that it would become “a world reference”.
The number of people who could benefit from an amnesty is not officially known, but estimates put it at more than 400 people. An ERC manager, Teresa Jordà, even spoke on Thursday of “more than a thousand people”.
The announcement of changes made to the first version of the law at the request of Mr. Puigdemont, while Mr. Sánchez had initially ruled out any modification, triggered the fury of the right-wing opposition.
” A government [d’un pays] European Union will leave extremely serious crimes against the heart of the European Union unpunished, including crimes of terrorism,” said Mr. Feijóo in Bucharest, where he is participating in the congress of the European People’s Party (EPP).
For Mr. Sánchez, currently in turmoil due to a corruption affair that continues to spread, this agreement on an amnesty law is the first good news in a long time.