Once convened yesterday for Thursday the Justice Commission of the Congress, which will have to vote on a new opinion on the proposed Amnesty law, the leadership of the PSOE expressed “full conviction” in the agreement with Junts per Catalunya to unblock finally the norm. This time yes, because they assure that “there is a will” from all parties for the pact.
The impression is similar to ERC. They admit that they are approaching positions and see the light at the end of the tunnel. Together they remain silent, but they have had enough of the echo of Carles Puigdemont’s words on Saturday, with which he urged them to stop devoting efforts to the fight against “repression” to focus on independence.
The spokeswoman of the PSOE, Esther Peña, reaffirmed for her part the “absolute confidence that the law will go forward on Thursday morning in the Justice Committee”. “We are convinced that it will be a good law for Spain and for Catalonia, and that it will contribute to us finally turning the page on one of the most difficult stages of coexistence in our country”, he assured.
Peña insisted that the PSOE continues without foreseeing major changes in the drafting of the rule, which a month ago caused, however, the negative vote of Junts in the plenary session of Congress, in view of the imputation for an alleged crime of terrorism against Carles Puigdemont. “We have no plans to make any changes”, stressed the socialist.
Socialist sources point out that, even if there is some change in the final wording, “the philosophy is the same”. ERC also hinted that the changes will be minimal: “The margin is reduced”, assured its spokeswoman, Raquel Sans.
In any case, if the Justice Committee approves the new opinion, as expected, the intention is that the law can be voted on in Congress on Thursday of next week, and from there pass to the Senate, where the PP plans to delay its processing for another two months.
The spokeswoman for the PSOE assured that this “reconciliation law”, as she called it, can now get the final approval of Junts. In his opinion, the post-convergents’ vote against the rule, a month ago, “opened a period of reflection” for Puigdemont’s formation that would now put the agreement on track. At ERC they also breathe optimism. They claim that they hold two-way meetings; with the PSOE and Junts. However, they remember that the pact is not between two (PSOE-Junts), but three, which is why they reserve something more than the last word, republican sources point out.
They trust Ferraz that, once the amnesty is unblocked, the Central Government will recover the legislative initiative with the new general State budgets. Socialist sources point out that negotiations with Junts are also open, and that MarÃa Jesús Montero is already working “to reach an agreement, despite the PP’s veto in the Senate on the objective of stability”.
