The soap opera of the Amnesty law comes to an end. This coming Thursday it will be decided whether the final text is approved by the Justice Commission or put on hold definitively. The PSOE and Junts are closer to the agreement than a few weeks ago, especially since the failed meeting on February 14 in Barcelona. The two parties have made progress in the pact, but it has not yet been closed, and it must be remembered that the changes that are under discussion must also be ratified by the rest of the parties that supported the first text. And here lies a good part of the problem: Esquerra does not welcome the new wording offered by the PSOE. We are, therefore, faced with the difficulty for the Government of achieving a three-way agreement.
There are therefore five days left where the amnesty is at stake, and in turn, the budgets for this year, and, therefore, the success of the legislature. Pedro Sánchez is playing it all or nothing in this final stretch of five days. The Amnesty law is already important enough for what it represents, but what makes it a transcendent debate is the impact it may have on the disaffection of Junts or Esquerra in the following votes that will take place in Congress. The future of the legislature in Spain will not be the same if the Government approves the amnesty and this year’s budgets, despite the fact that the PP may continue to mount a very tough opposition and also achieve probable electoral success in the European elections in June.
In the Catalan sphere, the approval of the amnesty will be a respite for all the people affected by the different criminal cases and should contribute to overcoming the process stage once and for all. Former Minister Lluís Puig affirms today in an interview with La Vanguardia that there is no alternative to the amnesty and that its approval will undoubtedly serve to normalize Catalan life and allow pacts to be reached between the three big parties: PSC, ERC and Together.
Everything hangs in the balance and it will not be easy to reconcile so many interests in the law and for this rule to be legally impeccable before the European courts. The agreement will be three or it will not be.
