The Amnesty Law has once again entered the European Parliament, this time due to the demands of several people, but also of the former president of UPyD, Rosa Díez, and the former leader of Ciudadanos, Juan Carlos Girauta —on behalf of different associations. — who asked the Petitions Committee of the European Parliament to examine what they consider a violation of the rule of law in Spain.
Rosa Díez and Juan Carlos Girauta presented their complaint against the agreement reached last November between the PSOE and Junts on the Amnesty Law, representing associations such as ‘S’ha Finish’, Catalunya Suma por España or Unión78, in total a dozen of organizations that led the protest on November 18 in several Spanish cities against the regulations.
“The law is deeply unjust, it establishes a difference between criminals, and those who are criminals, but political, and whose votes are necessary, are then exonerated. It is deeply unfair, there is no democratic law that can protect an outrage of these characteristics,” denounced Díez. At the same time, he described the negotiation with Junts as “pure corruption.”
Rosa Estaràs, MEP from the European People’s Party, spoke along the same lines, regretting that the agreement between PSOE and Junts cites “50 times the Constitution.” “When you have to justify so much, one thing is that you have no justification.” In her opinion, the law “is not going to generate concord, but rather more tension and confrontation. It contravenes political pluralism with a marketing of the rule of law in the interest of Mr. Pedro Sánchez.”
Also Vox MEP and spokesperson for the party, Jorge Buxadé, who criticized the role of the European Commission for not defending “the violation of the rule of law” as “guardian of the treaties.”
The tension increased when it was PSOE MEP Cristina Maestre’s turn to speak, addressing Rosa Diez. “Those who self-aggrandisingly define themselves as ex-socialists, but who do not say that they lost a congress with just 6% and that since then they have not stopped insulting all socialists, starting with the President of the Government of Spain,” she said. “A petitioner, who arrived half an hour late for a press conference and to give oxygen to the farce, and who always talks about the socialists as felons, traitors.” The discomfort of some MEPs and petitioners has become evident: while the president of the Petitions committee, the popular Dolors Montserrat, asked for silence; Rosa Díez shouted “you have passed four towns” to Maestre and she responded “calm down” with sarcasm. One more sign that the tension experienced in Congress is already spilling over into the corridors of the European Parliament in Brussels.
Also the Ciudadanos MEP, Jordi Cañas, criticized the regulations, which he described as “a lie.” “The amnesty law is not amnesty. It is a law designed ad hoc to ensure that the Spanish president is guaranteed his continuity in exchange for some votes, it is that crude, that brutal, that stark and that true.” Likewise, he asked the European Commission to act because “the rule of law in Spain is now under attack. Of course it is threatened and requires democratic firmness,” he argued.
For her part, ERC MEP Diana Riba asked those present to remember that her party “has been saying for many years that Spain has a problem with the rule of law.” “They were? Is Spain a consolidated democracy? or not? Do you have separation of powers? “Or not?” Riba urged the MEPs of the Popular Party and Vox, because when her party denounced “the dirty war against the independence movement,” both parties defended the rule of law in Spain.
After more than an hour and a half of accusations being exchanged between the parties, and as a majority of groups requested it, the request remains open. Rosa Estaràs requested a mission of MEPs to Spain – something that must still be decided at the level of coordinators – and the Civil Liberties and Economic Affairs commissions were urged to issue opinions on the law. Likewise, the European Commission was asked to keep MEPs informed about its examination of the Amnesty law.
A representative of the European Commission, who was—as usual—at the parliamentary meeting, recalled the words of the Commissioner for Justice, Didier Reynders, that the bill is being “analyzed and its development followed to have a fair evaluation.” once the law is approved.”
