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Updated Wednesday, January 31, 2024-14:40

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The Justice Committee of the

European Parliament

has approved introducing into the new anti-corruption directive the prohibition of pardons or amnesties being granted for crimes of embezzlement of public funds. The amendment introduced by the Portuguese MEP

Nuno Melo

and the Spanish

Javier Zarzalejos

, members of the European People's Party, has received the support of 43 members of the parliamentary committee, compared to only 17 against.

"

I am very satisfied, because very different political forces have converged in favor of giving this message

that embezzlers cannot be granted amnesty," Zarzalejos told this newspaper after the result of the vote. The president of the Justice Commission is the former socialist minister

Juan Fernando López Aguilar.

"I think that the socialists have been left practically alone against the vote," declares Zarzalejos. In his opinion, "

the Commission thus sends an unequivocal message to the Spanish Government and other Europeans who seek this type of amnesties

. It is clear that when the Spanish Government says that it is aligning the Penal Code with European standards it is not telling the truth."

The result of the vote

does not directly imply the ban, because this parliamentary commission will now have to open a negotiation with the European Council

- which represents the member states - to determine how the directive will finally be.

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This is the new anti-corruption directive that must be approved with agreement between the European Council and the European Parliament and which did not include in its original text the prohibition of amnesties, but which the competent Justice Commission in the European Parliament has wanted to add by a large majority. The approved text is this: "Member States must take the necessary measures to prohibit any pardon or amnesty of persons who have been found responsible for some of the criminal offenses mentioned in Articles 7 to 14." These are those referring to crimes of corruption and embezzlement.

"Regardless of the legal consequences, there is a clear political message:

the Government is processing an amnesty law in Spain that the Justice Commission of the European Parliament has approved should not be done

," says Zarzalejos.