Democracies divided over political differences may learn from Spain in recent days about how to build unity.
Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez suffered a political defeat last week when a bill granting amnesty to Catalan separatists was rejected by parliament. Responsibility for the losses lay with one of the separatist parties, Together for Catalonia, or Jants. Some in Spain called for retribution. However, the government responded with compassion.
Spain is experiencing its worst drought in 1,200 years. The effects have been severe in Catalonia, which has not had rain in over 1,000 days and declared a state of emergency last week. Madrid yesterday announced plans to invest $502 million in a new desalination plant in Catalonia, which will soon begin water transport. This follows an earlier decision to forgive the $17.5 billion the state owes the national government in debt and interest.
The amnesty bill and the drought and debt measures, which are now back in committee for further discussion, are part of the Prime Minister’s long-suffering bid to heal divisions through “dialogue, generosity and forgiveness”, as he said last November. It reflects continuous efforts. Just eight months after Sanchez became president in 2018, the Juntz family held a referendum on Catalonia’s independence despite a Supreme Court ruling that declared the vote unconstitutional.
Unlike attempts at reconciliation in other countries with deep conflicts, his approach does not offer forgiveness on conditions such as repentance or disclosure. He believes that reconciliation is a shared and negotiated outcome between both sides of a conflict. As many theologians have pointed out, forgiveness is a personal act, “a private and ongoing discipline of the mind, heart, and soul,” says Loyola Press author Vinita Hampton Wright. writing.
On the other hand, sometimes we need grace. Professor Stanisław Glaz of the Jesuit Ignatianum University in Krakow, Poland, writes that forgiveness “is not made by the more culpable person, but by the mentally and spiritually stronger person.”
The amnesty bill sparked street protests by hundreds of thousands of Spaniards. Catalan leader Carles Puigdemont, who fled to Belgium after the referendum to escape arrest, said there was no need to ask for forgiveness because Catalans had done nothing to be forgiven. Still, Sanchez was undeterred. In 2021, he pardoned nine separatist leaders who had been imprisoned for their roles in the separatist bid.
“To reach an agreement, someone almost always has to take the first step. We will rebuild social harmony out of respect and respect. Although we cannot start from scratch, We can start over. We love Catalonia.”
Is that soft approach just the right solution? As Omar Encarnacion, professor of political science at Bard College in New York, recently pointed out, support for Leave has fallen sharply in Catalonia since 2017. According to a recent opinion poll, it is below 40%.
“It remains unclear whether Mr. Sánchez will be able to sell an amnesty to a highly skeptical Spanish public,” Professor Encarnacion wrote in Foreign Affairs. But “returning peace to Catalonia is a step in the right direction.”