The Congress of Deputies has reactivated the debate on the amnesty law, paralyzed after Junts overturned its approval in plenary session on January 30.
The Justice Commission has called for this Thursday the debate and vote “in accordance with article 121.2 of the Regulations, of the new opinion of the commission on the proposed organic amnesty law.”
The commission, therefore, is convened for this Thursday. If the new text gets more yeses than noes, then the forecast is that next week it may return to the plenary session for final approval, before being sent to the Senate for the new procedure.
The latest intervention by the former Catalan president and leader of Junts, Carles Puigdemont, suggests that the agreement is possible. This weekend he spoke at an event of the Consell de la República in the south of France in which reproaches for a possible disagreement over the amnesty were conspicuous by his absence. What’s more, Puigdemont spoke of leaving behind “the slab of repression and exile” and of a “new stage.”
Meanwhile, ERC asks Junts for responsibility so that it does not overturn the approval of the law with the only fear that Puigdemont will not be able to benefit from the amnesty due to having a criminal case open for a crime of terrorism that has just been initiated by the Supreme Court.
In fact, this was the reason why Junts overturned the previous text that had been agreed between the socialists and the Catalan independentists, with the support of the Basques and Sumar. The red line of the PSOE is established to unconditionally introduce all terrorist crimes linked to the process as amnestiable. The team of the Minister of the Presidency, Justice and Relations with the Courts, Félix Bolaños, defends that Junts’ claim will not pass the constitutionality cut.
During these three days until the commission is held, the fringes will be closed so that this time the law is approved. However, it would not yet be its final approval because it first has to go through the Senate process, which could take two months.
Even if the upper house overturns the law, the text must return to Congress and then, with a high probability, all the proposed amendments will be eliminated and the text will be approved for publication in the Official State Gazette. This process can still take two months.
