Spanish Congress gives final greenlight to amnesty law for Catalan pro-independence figures

The Spanish Congress has given the final greenlight to the amnesty law that will benefit dozens of Catalan pro-independence figures on Thursday.

The vote took place after the Senate, with an absolute majority of the conservative People's Party, vetoed the law in mid-May.

The law was drafted in 2023 by the Spanish Socialist Party and the two Catalan pro-independence parties, Esquerra Republicana and Junts per Catalunya, as a prerequisite for backing Pedro Sánchez as Prime Minister.

The law was first approved in March in the Spanish Congress before continuing its parliamentary process and being debated in the Senate. As the upper chamber has an absolute majority of the People's Party (PP), the text was halted for two months before it was vetoed.

The parties that back the amnesty law are the Socialists, left-wing Sumar, Catalan pro-independence Esquerra Republicana and Junts, and regional parties PNB, Bildu, and BNG, as well as anti-austerity Podemos. Overall they add 177 MPs, one more than the required 176 seats to have an absolute majority.

On the other hand, the new law received 172 votes against it from the conservative People's Party, far-right Vox, and regional parties UPN and Coalición Canaria.

'Awful day' or 'victory day'

Pro-independence Esquerra Republicana party, and one of the main parties backing the Socialist and Sumar coalition government in the last term, celebrated the approval of the amnesty law.

Greenlight the law "is the first loss of the 1978 regime," in reference to the political parties that won a seat in Congress in the first post-Francoist election in Spain.

"Today is a day of victory, but it also marks a defeat. It is a historic day, as we face the first loss of the 1978 regime," Gabriel Rufián, Esquerra spokesperson in Congress, said ahead of the vote.

Pere Aragonès, Catalan acting president for Esquerra Republicana, reacted through X, formerly known as Twitter, that “today democracy wins. Today, the hundreds of people who have suffered unfair sentences and their families win.”

“We have amnesty. As we promised. And we will also have a referendum. Because Catalonia must and will vote on its future in freedom,” Aragonès added.

Junts spokesperson Miriam Nogueras calls the “historic” approval of the amnesty law a “democratic victory” and said the law is a “reparation” rule for the “injustices committed in the repression of Catalan independence.”

Nogueras recalled that “we should never have come to the need for this law” if the Spanish state “had made a real democratic transition, especially in the judicial area.”

“You have insulted, persecuted, threatened, and linked Carles Puigdemont to the devil. You said it was not possible to negotiate with him, and now you are doing it because you need him,” Nogueras said.

“You said there would not be an amnesty, and we will have an amnesty today because we have forced you to. And you say there will not be an independence vote, and we now know it does not depend on you,” Nogueras added.

Meanwhile, the Socialists have said that Europe, Spain, and Catalonia "have all said yes to an amnesty."

"Europe has blessed the amnesty law, Catalonia has thanked it, and the Congress will greenlight it with a qualified, quantity, and quality majority," Socialist MP Artemi Rallo said.

The Catalan MP, Gerardo Pisarello, from left-wing Sumar has qualified the law approval as a "victory."

"The amnesty law that we approve today, would not have been possible without the persistence of thousands of Catalans who have not accepted any democratic lessons from those who still think with the Francoism regime", he said.

Pisarello also highlighted that the law "cannot be a full stop" but "the beginning of bigger changes." In his opinion, there is still a need to find a way to stop right-wing parties' plans to use judges to stop the law.

Sumar is part of the Spanish government coalition and was an important player in recovering talks between the Spanish government and the Catalan pro-independence supporters in order to get a deal for an amnesty law.

The first answer from the People's Party, the main political party in the opposition with 137 seats, came from the president of the Madrid region, Isabel Díaz Ayuso, who said that they would start a judicial "battle" against the law.

Ayuso also affirmed that they would not let the rule of law "break down." 

“Today is an awful day for Spanish democracy because the most corrupt law in decades has been approved,” President of the autonomous community of Madrid and conservative People’s Party member Isabel Díaz Ayuso said.

PP president Albert Nuñez Feijóo has spoken from the Spanish Congress, suggesting that Sánchez "withdraw the law" and "call for the elections."

"If it's a great law, withdraw it and present it in the election program, call for elections, and listen to what Spanish people say about this electoral fraud," Feijóo said.

The leader of the PP also linked the law with Sánchez wife's corruption accusations without mentioning it directly: "It's not strange that's going on an investigation for corruption at Moncloa [Spanish government headquarters]. That's the same patron of corruption and lies," he said.

Feijóo also accused the socialist party of changing its mind about the amnesty law to win the votes of pro-independence parties and see Sanchez reelected as prime minister.

Leader of the far-right party Vox, Santiago Abascal, says the approval of the amnesty law is an act of “political corruption” and an example of a “coup d’état and political violence in Spain.”

“Today is the first defeat and a serious attack on Spaniards who obey the law since 1978,” Abascal said.

The president of the Spanish congress, Francina Armengol, called Vox member José Maria Figaredo to order during the amnesty law debate after he, and other Vox members, shouted “traitors” and “corrupt” at those in favor of the amnesty law.

Future steps

After the vote in Congress, Spain's King Felipe VI would have to sign the law, and it would then be published in the Spanish Official Gazette for it to come into force.

Once the law is published, judges will have two months to apply it, although some judges will question its legality in European courts, meaning the process could be extended. 

These preliminary rulings by the European courts are part of a maneuver promoted by the Civic Platform for Judicial Independence, a group of judges against the amnesty law, which prepared a 126-page document to try to stop the amnesty from coming into force.

The document was shared with all Spanish judges via email.

The result of these preliminary rulings will impact 372 pro-independence figures, according to Spain's presidency minister Félix Bolaños.

Among them, there are former Catalan president Carles Puigdemont, Esquerra's secretary general Marta Rovira, former Catalan ministers Toni Comín and Lluís Puig, as well as Oriol Junqueras, Jordi Turull, Dolors Bassa, and Raül Romeva, these last four will not be banned from barring public office.

Who will benefit from the bill?

The amnesty law will benefit all those involved in the independence movement, pardoning individuals who have been investigated, accused or charged with a wide range of crimes, including embezzlement and disobedience.  

It will also cover those sentenced in 2019 for their roles in organizing the referendum, such as exiled former president Carles Puigdemont and his former vice president Oriol Junqueras. 

The original amnesty proposal covered those prosecuted from January 2012 to November 2023, but the revised version extends this period back to November 2011.

Estimates of the number of beneficiaries under the law vary widely. Based on the first draft, the pro-independence civil society organization Òmnium estimated that around 1,500 people were to benefit, while the Socialists estimated the number to be around 300. 

Currently, the exact number of beneficiaries under the current text remains uncertain, but Junts claims that the revised version will extend its benefits to an additional 150 to 200 people compared to the original proposal.