Spain’s parliament passes controversial amnesty bill for Catalan separatists

By Alyssa McMurtry

OVIEDO, Spain (AA) - The Spanish parliament voted on Thursday to pass a controversial amnesty bill to benefit those with criminal charges related to the Catalan separatist movement.

This amnesty bill could benefit more than 1,000 people who are facing criminal charges or who have already received convictions, according to the Catalan separatist organization Omnium Culture.

The highest-profile name to triumph with this bill is the former Catalan president, Carles Puigdemont. He has been exiled from Spain since he led a failed independence attempt in 2017.

His party Junts per Catalunya even blocked the first iteration of the amnesty because it did not guarantee that Puigdemont would be pardoned.

However, after tough negotiations, Spain’s government agreed to also pardon those facing “street terrorism” charges, such as Puigdemont.

Those charges are related to a 2019 protest outside the Barcelona airport that Spain’s Supreme Court says could constitute a non-violent form of terrorism under Spanish law.

But the new amnesty law, while still excluding anyone accused of terrorism from being pardoned, now relies on the European definition of terrorism, which is narrower than Spain’s.

The amnesty bill will have to pass through the Senate, where it is all but sure to pass, though it could take some time.

However, the timing is all the more interesting since Catalan President Pere Aragonese on Wednesday called snap elections for the region for May.

Puigdemont’s party Junts hopes he will be the candidate.

But on Wednesday, Puigdemont told journalists that he would be very interested in the role, but that it was “premature” to say if that would be possible.

Meanwhile, Spain’s government also celebrated the hard-fought passing of the amnesty bill.

“With this law, we seek to end the days of confrontation and begin a time of reconciliation,” Socialist Party spokesperson Patxi Lopez said during the debate.

The amnesty law is extremely controversial in Spain and triggered massive and violent protests by those who oppose it.

“This isn’t reconciliation, this is submission,” said Popular Party leader Alberto Nunez Feijoo on Thursday.

Indeed, Spain’s minority progressive government has been forced to negotiate this bill to win the much-needed support of the Catalan separatist parties in the highly fractured parliament.

While the amnesty law was supposed to allow Spain’s progressive coalition government to pass legislation more easily, the Socialists have already said they have given up on the 2024 budget due to the elections in Catalonia.

Given that the Catalan parties will be even harder to please ahead of elections, Spain’s Treasury Minister Maria Jesus Montero said that the 2023 budget will be extended as the government focuses on the 2025 budget.