The municipal groups of Trias per Barcelona and ERC will bring to the full session of the Barcelona City Council on Friday a proposal or institutional declaration for the Consistory of the Catalan capital to support the processing of an amnesty law in the Spanish Courts.
Xavier Trias and Ernest Maragall jointly presented the initiative yesterday, the same day that the general policy debate began in the Parliament of Catalonia and the investiture session of Alberto Núñez Feijóo in Madrid, a coincidence that is not at all accidental. The proposal of the two pro-independence formations puts pressure on the mayor of Barcelona, ??the socialist Jaume Collboni, who the promoters of the declaration hope will at least abstain from voting on Friday. Despite this, the PSC prefers not to be as explicit as Junts and ERC and will try to reach consensus on an alternative text that gives sufficient satisfaction to Trias and Maragall without excessively compromising the mayor. In any case, the pro-independence proposal already has all the numbers to be approved due to the fact that BComú has already announced the vote in favor.
The amnesty law, according to Trias and Maragall, should refer to “facts, actions and omissions of political intent linked to the exercise of Catalonia’s right to self-determination, classified as criminal or administrative offences, that had place from January 1, 2013 until the entry into force of the law”.
Together and ERC identify the amnesty as “a solution to end all the political and judicial repression of the last 10 years”. They consider it “the best route for the de-judicialization and resolution of the conflict” and warn that, “in a democratic society, the free exercise of political rights should not have the judicial route as an answer”. The proposal demands the return of “legitimate and necessary democratic debate to the political path, and guarantee the non-repetition of judicial actions that want to pursue or deny it”.
The reply from the PSC was not long in coming. The deputy mayor Laia Bonet registered a proposal for an institutional declaration that the socialists hope to negotiate with that of the pro-independence parties. It proposes that the City Council support “political action based on the dialogue of the Spanish Government” and propose that the progress that has taken place in terms of “fostering coexistence” be verified. The PSC initiative does not refer to an amnesty law and points out that “the public authorities must always submit to the rule of law and respect the institutional framework in any case”. She is very critical of the PP, which she accuses of trying to “install the strategy of confusion and division in Spanish and Catalan society for partisan interests”. But he also tries to put Junts and ERC in their place when he recalls the electoral strength of the PSC and the fact that the mobilization of independence today is “significantly lower than when the PP ruled Spain”.
