Marisa Cruz Madrid

Madrid

Updated Tuesday, February 20, 2024-11:30

  • Politics The PSOE requests another extension to approve the Amnesty Law in the absence of agreement with Junts

  • Negotiation The Government guarantees amnesty to Puigdemont but not that he can return immediately

PSOE and Sumar have imposed with their majority in the Congress Board an extension of fifteen days, until

March 7

, of the period initially scheduled for the Justice Commission to submit to the plenary session of the Chamber a new opinion on the proposed law of Amnesty and it can continue its processing in the Chambers.

The text of this ruling depends on the PSOE reaching an agreement with Junts on key aspects of the norm focused mainly on the list of crimes that would be covered by the grace measure. Currently, the proposal excludes from said protection the crimes of terrorism and high treason, figures that could prevent Carles Puigdemont's amnesty.

Junts demands that both types of crimes be included in the amnesty, while the PSOE rejects this possibility, considering that it would jeopardize the constitutionality of the entire norm. To resolve the setback, the Government is studying various alternative formulas with the intention of guaranteeing the application of the pardon measure to the leader of Junts but without touching the articles of the Amnesty bill.

In this sense, different options have been considered, ranging from the modification of the Penal Code itself to the reform of the Criminal Procedure Law in order to shorten the judicial investigation periods. However, none of these proposals convince Junts at the moment.

The lack of agreement is what has caused the socialists, with the support of Sumar, to approve at the Congress Board a postponement of the date established to reach an agreement.

The Amnesty bill was rejected by the Plenary Session of the Chamber at the beginning of the month when the seven Junts deputies joined those of the entire opposition - PP, Vox, UPN and CC - voting against the entire law. The president of Congress, Francina Armengol, then decided to return the text to the Justice Commission so that an agreement could be reached within fifteen days. This deadline ended tomorrow and given the expectation that it will not be possible to reach an agreement by then, the PSOE has imposed the opening of a fifteen-day extension that ends on March 7.

Thus, over the next two weeks, negotiations between Catalan socialists and independentists will have to intensify. In this context, Junts is determined to maintain and even intensify pressure on the Government and its party, which they consider seriously weakened after its resounding failure in the Galician elections.

If the Amnesty bill manages to pass the vote of the Plenary Congress on the new scheduled date, it will be sent to the Senate where the absolute majority of the popular votes will impose a non-urgent procedure, which implies having up to two months to vote on the initiative that , without a doubt, will have to be returned to Congress so that it can lift the amendments and even vetoes that the Upper House can approve. In this way, and if there are no new setbacks, the law could go ahead in mid-May, just in the run-up to the European elections on June 9, thus fully impacting the electoral campaign.