Spain’s PP urges von der Leyen to help block controversial amnesty law

5 months ago 12

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen should help put a stop to the controversial amnesty law that pardons hundreds of Catalan separatist activists for illegal acts committed between 2011 and 2023, Dolors Montserrat, the lead candidate of Spanish Partido Popular (PP/EPP) that came first in the European elections, wrote in a letter to her EPP colleague von der Leyen on Wednesday.

The controversial law that also pardons the activists who organised the secessionist attempt in Catalonia in 2017 came into force on Tuesday following its publication in the Official State Gazette. Its interpretation, however, will be up to Spanish judges, who can, among other things, refer a preliminary question to the EU Court of Justice to find out whether the law violates the EU law.

However, according to PP, the main opposition force in the Spanish parliament and now the strongest Spanish delegation in the EU Parliament, the extraordinary law violates the Spanish constitution.

The far-right VOX, the third-largest force in both parliaments, is of the same opinion.

The PP has announced that it will try to repeal the law before the Constitutional Court and the Supreme Court to prevent its implementation, which is still awaited by the former Catalan president Carles Puigdemont, who has announced that he will return to Spain from France, where he is currently living, despite the possible risk of being arrested.

The amnesty law “represents a frontal attack on the rule of law in Spain” with which the Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez (PSOE/S&D) “only seeks to erase crimes (including those of corruption or terrorism) to other politicians in exchange for remaining in power”, Montserrat’s letter to von der Leyen reads.

Montserrat, who is also the PP’s spokesperson in the European Parliament, denies that the amnesty is aimed at reconciliation—as Sánchez claims—and maintains that the law is “deeply divisive and has caused profound rejection in the political class, the institutions, the judiciary, academia and Spanish society,” recalling that the Venice Commission of the Council of Europe recently stated this.

“We hope that the European Commission understands the seriousness of the situation and the implications of this attack on the principles of the rule of law, not only in Spain but throughout the European Union, and acts accordingly to safeguard them,” Montserrat added.

The stability of the Sánchez government depends on the seven votes of the right-wing separatist party Together for Catalonia (JxCat), led by Puigdemont, and its left-wing separatist rival, the Republican Left of Catalonia (ERC). It also depends on the support of two Basque formations and other smaller parties—parties that have lent their support in exchange for the promised implementation of the controversial law.

(Fernando Heller | EuroEFE.Euractiv.es)