Spanish MPs vote against highly divisive law granting amnesty to Catalan separatists

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Catalan separatist lawmakers on Tuesday voted against an amnesty law aimed at helping hundreds of supporters of Catalan independence in 2017, dealing a blow to Spain’s government.

The bill is intended to protect Carles Puigdemont, the fugitive leader of one of Catalonia’s two main political parties in Belgium, from any possible legal challenges if he returns to Spain. It was rejected by They argued that the proposed law did not go far enough.

Miriam Nogueras, a member of the Jantz party, said, “We will continue negotiations with 15 days to spare. There is no reason to approve an amnesty law that has holes,” and the Socialist Party said the amendments could “make the amnesty invalid.” “There is a sexual nature,” he said. “The law is facing challenges in Europe,” she said, but she said they are ready for it.

The conservative National Party and the far-right Box also voted against the bill, which received 171 votes, five votes short of the required majority.

The refusal highlighted the government’s weakness even among its so-called allies. Socialist Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez agreed to the law in exchange for the support of Catalonia’s two small separatist parties, Esquerra Republicana and Jants per Catalunya, to form a new minority left government late last year. It became possible.

The bill is crucial to their support and could pave the way for the return of Mr. Puigdemont, who went into exile from Spain to Belgium after leading an illegal Brexit bid that failed in 2017 and brought the country to the brink. was there.

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. Many members of the judiciary and police are against it, as are several leaders of Mr. Sánchez’s own party.

Opposition parties have staged at least seven large demonstrations against the law in recent months.

Why did the law fail?

Pro-independence party leader Carles Puigdemont announced he would vote against the amnesty law unless amendments ensured that all cases related to the withdrawal bid were included and accepted.

The main obstacle was that the amnesty law included terrorist cases. Catalonia’s Jants wants to protect Puigdemont and his involvement in a case investigating the activities of pro-independence group Tsunami Democracy.

The Spanish Supreme Court judge in charge of the investigation wants to attribute the terrorist crime to two incidents.

These are the events that took place at Barcelona’s El Prat Airport on October 14, 2019, when a crowd of protesters collapsed the airport, resulting in the death of a French tourist from cardiac arrest and the death of two police officers. was seriously injured.

Puigdemont’s party wants to change the wording of the law so that all terrorist crimes are amnestied.

What’s next?

The bill must be returned to a parliamentary committee and redrafted within two weeks. It is unclear whether the law will go into effect, as it must be submitted to the Senate. The main opposition party, the extremely conservative People’s Party, has an absolute majority in the Senate. The party has vowed to do everything it can to block the bill in the Senate and challenge it in court.

During his campaign, Sánchez denied that his Socialist Party would issue an amnesty, but said the latest amnesty would be good for Spain as it would further calm waters in Catalonia.

The previous government of Sánchez pardoned several imprisoned leaders of the Catalan independence movement.