Spanish legislators commenced discussions on Tuesday regarding a controversial bill aimed at providing amnesty to Catalan separatists, a commitment made by Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez to secure his political standing.
Six years post the unsuccessful bid for independence by Catalan separatists, Prime Minister Sanchez is adamant that the amnesty proposal will aid in “turning the page” on Spain’s most severe political turmoil in decades, which continues to evoke intense emotions.
After resisting the idea for years, Sanchez recently admitted to a change of heart, highlighting a significant transformation in his position on the matter.
Sanchez acknowledged on Monday that explaining such a step to the Spanish public was “complex,” but he deemed it a “necessary decision” to glean lessons from the events of 2017 and move towards a resolution of the Catalonia conflict.
With a vote of 178 deputies in favor out of 350, lawmakers officially kicked off the parliamentary debate late Tuesday.
In addition, legislators endorsed the establishment of three commissions, a concession to Catalan separatist parties in exchange for their backing of Sanchez’s left-wing coalition. One of these commissions will focus on probing a surveillance scandal implicating Catalan leaders.
More than 60 mobile phones connected to the Catalan separatist movement were reportedly surveilled using Pegasus spyware after the thwarted Catalan independence attempt in 2017, as per findings from Citizen Lab.
‘What we’re trying to do is.. to find a way out of this never-ending, hopeless confrontation’ over Catalonia, said Patxi Lopez, spokesman for Sanchez’s Socialists as the parliamentary debate kicked off.
Promising the measure would be swiftly adopted by Spain’s parliament had won Sanchez the key support of Catalan separatist lawmakers that enabled him to be sworn in last month for a new term in office.
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It will likely take several months to become law, but when it does, it will allow the courts to drop the charges against hundreds of separatist leaders and activists facing legal action over the October 2017 crisis.
That process should be completed within two months.
First and foremost, the move benefits Carles Puigdemont, who headed Catalonia’s regional government when it staged a referendum banned by Madrid and then made a short-lived declaration of independence.
Regarded by numerous Spaniards as their primary public adversary, he sought refuge in Belgium to evade prosecution. However, the amnesty would pave the way for his return home.
While enjoying support from the left, radical left, and Basque and Catalan parties, the amnesty proposal has caused profound rifts in Spanish society and triggered objections from certain quarters of the judiciary.
Recently, large crowds of protesters have mobilized in the streets to reject the amnesty, responding to the call from the right-wing opposition Popular Party (PP), which secured the top position in July’s general election but lacked the necessary support to establish a government.
Opposition leader Alberto Nunez Feijoo, who has angrily denounced the measure, described Tuesday’s debate as “the saddest parliamentary session” since February 1981, when disgruntled right-wing officers stormed parliament in an attempted coup d’etat.
‘This is a humiliation for Spain,’ he declared.
The PP, commanding an absolute majority in the Senate upper house, has committed to employing all strategies to delay the approval of the bill that the Socialists aim to expedite for prompt promulgation.
Although the Senate can introduce delays, it does not wield the authority to fully impede the adoption of the measure.
Pointing fingers at Sanchez for a “coup d’etat,” Santiago Abascal, leader of the far-right Vox party, intensified his criticism over the weekend, forecasting that the prime minister would meet the fate of a dictator.
Denouncing Abascal for ‘hate speech that seeks to polarise and incite violence,’ Foreign Minister Jose Manuel Albares said such language hadn’t been heard “in Spain for many decades, since times that were very dark,” referring to the 1936 –39 civil war and ensuing dictatorship that ended in 1975.
A cause for increased worry within the government is the pronounced division among Sanchez’s Socialists regarding the amnesty. A Monday survey in El Mundo Daily disclosed that 45.8 percent of those who voted for him in July oppose the measure.