“I am convinced that this Amnesty law will pass and that it will be one hundred percent constitutional.” Pedro Sánchez has thus shown himself convinced, in the interview that he carried out this Monday in La Sexta, that the proposed Amnesty law for those accused of the process will be approved, despite the misgivings of Junts per Catalunya that last week stopped its parliamentary processing in Congress. The President of the Government has assured that this rule, with its current wording and without further changes, already covers all the alleged crimes that the various judicial investigations attribute to the Catalan independence movement. But Sánchez has also opened the door to a reform of the Criminal Procedure Law, as La Vanguardia announced last Saturday, to shorten the deadlines for judicial investigation.
Sánchez has insisted that, as currently drafted, it is “a brave, restorative and constitutional law.” And he has assured that this is how it will also come out of Congress, apart from the new negotiations planned between the PSOE and Junts in search of an agreement that will allow the rule to be voted on again in the plenary session of Congress. The president has rejected new modifications to the norm, via amendments, as proposed by Carles Puigdemont’s party, to extend its effects to all crimes of terrorism or treason against the State. “We already said no to that,” stressed Sánchez, who recalled that the PSOE already voted last Tuesday against the amendments that remained alive from Junts or ERC.
The president has opted to “continue dialogue” with the Puigdemont party to redirect this disagreement over the amnesty, with “temperance and firmness.” “We have reached an agreement that is fully constitutional and that is aligned with European law,” he defended. “Maximum willingness to dialogue, but being aware that we have reached a good agreement. And that it will cover all the assumptions that currently concern the independence movement,” he assured. “Independence is not terrorism,” Sánchez reiterated.
The socialist leader has insisted that “it is not our intention” to introduce more modifications to the rule, as Junts claims before giving the green light to the law. “It is a good text”, he has defended. Without closing himself to the negotiation: “Among all the political formations we will have to find a solution for the Amnesty law to go forward, which I am convinced will happen.” Sánchez has ruled out as an alternative a reform of the Penal Code to review terrorism crimes, which was one of the avenues explored by the PSOE. “That is not in the Government’s mind,” he assured. Precisely because, in his opinion, “terrorism is not comparable to independence.” “This is common sense, one thing has nothing to do with the other,” he argued. “All the assumptions are included in the Amnesty law, it is fully constitutional and in accordance with European law,” he reiterated.
But Sánchez has opened the door to addressing a reform of the Criminal Procedure Law to reduce the deadlines for judicial investigation, a path that the Government is now exploring to attract Junts to the agreement, as Lola García already announced in La Vanguardia last year. Saturday. “In recent weeks we have seen instructions that are prolonged and that even the prosecutors themselves have questioned,” the Chief Executive acknowledged. A reform of the LECrim in this sense, he has admitted, would be “perfectly” included in the review already validated in the first Government decrees to promote “the efficiency” of justice. “There are elements that we can incorporate for improvement and that, obviously, can correct some of the doubts that these political formations may have,” he acknowledged, in reference to Junts.
