MADRID (AP) – Spain’s lower house of parliament is scheduled to debate and vote Tuesday on a highly divisive amnesty law aimed at eradicating discord. Legal trouble that can involve hundreds of people They were involved in Catalonia’s failed 2017 independence bid.
Socialist Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez agreed to enforce the law in exchange for parliamentary support from Catalonia’s two small separatist parties, thereby establish a new minority left government The end of last year.
The bill could pave the way for the fugitive former Catalan president to return home Carles Puigdemont — the leader of one of the separatist parties — fled Spain to Belgium after leading an illegal separatist bid that failed in 2017 and plunged the country into crisis.
A key question is whether Puigdemont’s party can include a clause in the bill that would cover all possible legal challenges if he returns. If that is not possible, the bill may be repealed.
Puigdemont and the issue of Catalonia’s independence are anathema to many Spaniards, and the amnesty bill has angered conservatives and far-right opposition parties, who make up about half of the country’s population. Many members of the judiciary and police are also opposed, as are some senior members of Mr. Sánchez’s own party.
Opposition parties have staged at least seven large-scale demonstrations in violation of the law in recent months.
Even if the bill is approved on Tuesday, it is unclear when it will take effect because it must be submitted to the Senate, where the fiercely conservative main opposition People’s Party holds an absolute majority. The party pledged to do everything in its power to block the bill in the Senate and challenge it in court.
Mr Sánchez admitted that he would not have agreed to the amnesty if he had not needed the support of the Catalan separatist parliament. He also said that without their support he would not have been able to form a government, and that the right wing could have won a majority of seats in the 2023 elections and taken power.
He now says that the amnesty will be good for Spain as it will further calm the waves in Catalonia, and that the Catalan policy since taking office in 2018 has significantly eased the tensions that existed between Madrid and Barcelona during the Popular Party government. I am proud that I did it. .
The former Sánchez administration recognized this. grant amnesty to several imprisoned leaders He helped heal the wounds of the Catalan independence movement.
A vote requires approval from 176 members of the 350-member House of Representatives. Mr Sanchez’s coalition of minority parties has 147 seats, but has the in-principle support of at least 30 more MPs.