A few hours before the investiture debate begins in which Pedro Sánchez will presumably once again be elected President of the Government, this time with the votes of the absolute majority of Congress, The Guardian has published an editorial in which it has taken a position on the amnesty And he has done it clearly: “Pedro Sánchez is right to bet again.”
In a seven-paragraph text, the British newspaper, as the Financial Times did a few days ago, stated that the current acting President of the Government “is right to take the risk” of reaching an agreement with the pro-independence parties and has highlighted how the pardons approved two years ago helped “to defuse poisonous confrontations that led to the worst constitutional crisis in Spain since the return of democracy.”
The writing begins by making a curious comparison, as it takes advantage of the recent news of the return of former Prime Minister David Cameron to Downing Street as Foreign Minister to affirm that said return may be overshadowed “by the resurrection of the career” of Carles Puigdemont.
The Guardian analyzes the electoral result of the last 23-J and how, “unexpectedly”, Junts per Catalunya has had a fundamental weight in the political future of Spain. The price that the socialist leader has to pay, says the newspaper, is his support “for an amnesty agreement that could benefit Puigdemont and hundreds of other activists.” “Sánchez is known for his political bets, but this may be the biggest one,” he says.
The editorial also mentions how, according to some surveys, two out of every three Spaniards oppose the amnesty and highlights the demonstrations this past weekend against penal oblivion. “However, despite the tense context, Sánchez is right to take the risk, and not only for reasons of political self-interest,” the newspaper says.
The British newspaper is critical on some points, as it emphasizes that the fact that Sánchez needs the support “of the Basque nationalists and the Catalan separatists” to govern “in a country where politics has been deeply fractured and polarized”, means “a confusing and fragile result”. However, he also assures that “this is much better than a government led by the PP, which would have brought the extreme right out of the cold for the first time since the end of the dictatorship.”
Vox, according to The Guardian, “will use the amnesty as a means to regroup” and affirms that Pedro Sánchez, with his pact with the independentistas, “will have a lot of work ahead of him to reconcile Spanish public opinion and many members of the judiciary.” “But as a bulwark against this far-right extremism, his continued presence in power will be good news for the country and for Europe,” the text concludes.
