Spanish Congress Passes Amnesty Law for Catalan Separatists

Facts

• The lower house of the Spanish parliament on Thursday approved the government-backed amnesty bill for Catalan secessionists, 178 to 172, sending the legislation to the Senate.¹
• This follows weeks of negotiations between the ruling Socialists and pro-independence parties Junts and Esquerra Republicana on the content and scope of the law. Junior coalition partner Sumar, as well as Basque and Galician parties, supported this bill, while right-wing parties voted against it.²
• If the amnesty goes through, it will cancel pending legal action against hundreds of Catalan nationalists, including former regional leader Carles Puigdemont, who faces allegations of separatist activity, mainly stemming from a failed independence attempt in 2017.³
• An earlier version of the bill was voted down because Puigdemont's Junts claimed there were not enough guarantees protecting him and others from prosecution for terrorism-related charges. The only crimes now unprotected will be those the EU considers to be terrorism.⁴
• Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez agreed to the amnesty to secure support from the two Catalan parties following a national election that delivered a hung parliament last July, prompting the opposition to argue that he had sold the rule of law in exchange for another term in office.⁵
• Catalonia's regional Pres. Pere Aragonès on Wednesday called a snap election for May 12, after his minority government failed to pass a budget.⁶

Sources: ¹EFE Noticias, ²Catalan News, ³POLITICO, ⁴BBC News, ⁵Al Jazeera and ⁶Associated Press.

Narratives

• Narrative A, as provided by Europeanconservative. It's disgraceful that the Congress of Deputies has approved a blanket amnesty for all crimes that Catalan secessionists carried out in connection with the 2017 referendum — even for terrorism — only because the ruling coalition is fully dependent on the support of Catalan separatists. No wonder Sánchez himself failed to stand up for this bill, only appearing in the chamber after the debate had ended.
• Narrative B, as provided by Financial Times. While it's true that this amnesty for Catalan nationalists is a pragmatic move that most Spaniards oppose and that has divided legal experts over its constitutionality, it's a matter of fact that this is the best way to cool tensions and help resolve political and social fractures in Spain. It's only through dialogue and democratic debate that the country can finally achieve internal reconciliation.
• Narrative C, as provided by In English. Madrid may well try to deceive the international community into believing that this amnesty is a path to reconciliation, though the law is actually an admission of error regarding its own reaction to the 2017 referendum, which was, at most, a mere act of disobedience. Now that the years of exile are about to come to an end, Catalonia has entered the fourth phase of its transition to sovereignty.

Predictions