The Congress of Deputies approves an amnesty law and Catalan nationalists are already considering independence

In a second attempt to get a parliamentary “yes”, the amnesty law Pedro Sanchez Committed to the Catalan independence movementn Approved Representatives of Congress this Thursday Spain.

There were 178 votes in favor and 172 votes against. The bill will now be debated in the SenateThe majority of the Popular Party (PP) – in exchange for their support for his re-election – opposed to the move Sánchez agreed with the separatists. Try to delay as much as possible.

The most controversial laws proposed in the four months this legislature has been in office were approved a day after they were finally announced. Elections will be held in Catalonia on May 12.

And with the disturbing statement the Catalan independence parties released in parliament this Thursday: After the amnesty, They will go to self-determination referendum This allows the Catalans to choose whether or not to secede from the rest of Spain.

The highly questionable amnesty law was already debated in Congress at the end of January, but the same beneficiaries of the measure blocked it from a vote. Not fully protected For the hundreds of people accused of crimes for collaborating in the 2017 illegal referendum and unilateral declaration of independence.

He Election progress The announcement by the president of the Generalitat, Pere Aragones, on Wednesday brings uncertainty to the relationship between the PSOE-led coalition government led by Pedro Sánchez and the pro-independence parties that supported his inauguration in November last year.

And prompts a return to Spainand his possible candidacy to lead Catalonia again, Carlos Puigdemont, The former president, who ruled from the Generalitat Palace between January 2016 and October 2017, unilaterally declared Catalan independence and He fled to Belgium Avoiding imprisonment, interrogation and condemnation.

Junds per Catalunya, Puigdemont's party, agreed to the amnesty, but later voted against the bill. There is no guarantee that their leader will be safe Possible future charges.

Puigdemont has lived in Belgium for six and a half years. Amnesty Act will allow you to return to their land even if the time limit comes into effect He will not be allowed to stay in Catalonia When will the new government take office after the elections on May 12?

The first bill was submitted by the PSOE in November last year. At the end of January, an anti-Juntz referendum forced the bill to be returned to the Congressional Justice Commission, where the PSOE and the two Catalan independence parties, the Esquerra Republicana and Juntz – They negotiated till the last day.

Finally, a week ago, the Judiciary Committee approved a final opinion that was approved in the House of Representatives this Thursday.

To ensure there are no unpleasant surprises, Junts sought amendments that would protect potential crimes such as terrorism, sedition and extortion. -Some judges interrogate Puigdemont in their view- so that, if they are considered, they will be judged according to European norms and not according to the Spanish Penal Code.

“We did politics. “Brave and controversial,” described Socialist parliamentary spokesman Patsy López, who had to defend the amnesty law the PSOE had agreed with the Catalans.

“Policy is about providing alternatives,” he said. “It's about working to reduce conflicts,” López stressed.

“With the amnesty law we close the cycle of those political decisions, thereby ending the time of conflict and opening the time for reconciliation and reunification,” he stressed.

During the debate of this Thursday's extraordinary session, deputy Joseph María Cervera from the Junds admitted: “The historic political conflict between the Catalan and Spanish states There is more”.

“What amnesty does is return to politics,” Cervera said. It has certainly opened a window of opportunity for us to negotiate with each other about the future of Catalonia, the future of Catalonia that we want free.

For its method, The Esquerra Republicana did not hide its intentionss: “We are not going to stop until we exercise the right to self-determination,” said Representative Pilar Valluguera.

“This amnesty is for people who put their faces and bodies. Not for those with first and last names who can lead parties,” Valluguera reasoned. Refers to Puigdemont Without naming.

And he added: “It's important to be transparent. We know the basic structure of the Spanish state. The government's overall reaction to the no-crime and no-crime amnesty reform was overblown. No coup. There was no malpractice. “There is no terrorism, this law is recognition.”

PP and Vox are the main parties Voted against Amnesty Act.

“You bring it The first major act of the legislature and the last“Maybe,” predicted Alberto Núñez Feijóo, head of the PP and main opposition leader.

“There is not going to be an apology at first. After that, there will be no pardon for terrorism. Then there is going to be an amnesty for terrorism, but only a little. There will be no amnesty for high treason and fThey finally granted amnesty for terrorism, fraud, corruption and sedition. They accepted everything”, Núñez Feijo jokingly reviewed.

“Don't you dare sell us reconciliation, because This law divides Spain in two and dividing Catalonia in two,” he said.

“This is not reconciliation. This is submission“, shooting.

And he declared: “This law Doesn't pass the Senate filter. This law does not pass the filter of justice. The Act does not pass the filter of the companies it should evaluate. They cannot ignore the Constitution.

“After all, it doesn't pass the street filter. They have lost the street” said the leader of the PP.

For Santiago Abascal, president of Vox, this Thursday's parliamentary session It was “disgraceful, unfair and undeserved”..

He described the law of forgiveness Pedro Sánchez's “biggest act of corruption” “Vote buying and personal favors,” he clarified.

“Today (Thursday) this Congress is turning politicians into leftists or separatists. A privileged caste, in an unpunished caste” said Abascal.

And when he left the room, he thought the entire cabinet should resign and hold fresh elections.

Election progress in Catalonia resulted in La Moncloa's decision not to continue the implementation of public budgets of the State for this year.

Because both allies, the Esquerra Republicana and the Junts, voted for the re-election of Pedro Sánchez as president, which was favorable and inevitable for them. They will clash on May 12 And this electoral conflict may have an impact on the government's legislative proposals. Sánchez has already resigned himself to extending budgets for this year and ordered the start of work for 2025.

However, suspicions that the government's future initiatives could gain a measure of weakness in the legislature that began in November last year and are backed by seven parties, Catalan and Basque independence, come from the right and the left. .

The Basque Country will also hold elections in a month Two of Sánchez's allies will compete: the Basque Nationalist Party (PNV) and EH Bild.

The approval of Thursday's amnesty comes four years after the state of alert due to Covid was declared by Pedro Sánchez on March 14, 2020.

That quarantine, it's in Spain lasted for a hundred days, Today, what Spaniards experienced in the first months of the pandemic is very much present: reports of possible corruption due to the illegal payment of outrageous commissions to buy masks have plagued the government and the main opposition party, adding to the confusion. Uncertainty about Sánchez's presidency.