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‘End of democracy’: Spain’s opposition steps up criticism of amnesty plan

Spain's conservative opposition parties and members of its judiciary have stepped up criticism of acting Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez's plans to offer amnesty to Catalan separatists in return for their support in an upcoming investiture vote.

Published: 6 November 2023 15:34 CET
'End of democracy': Spain's opposition steps up criticism of amnesty plan
"Exchanging votes for impunity is corruption," argues the PP's Alberto Núñez Feijóo. (Photo by OSCAR DEL POZO / AFP)

Sánchez’s Socialists finished second in the July 23rd parliamentary elections and he has until November 27th to cobble together a working coalition, or face fresh elections.   

Sánchez needs the support of Catalan independence parties, and has accepted their demands to offer amnesty to all those being pursued for their role in a failed secession attempt in 2017.

In response, opposition parties have hardened their tone in recent days, accusing Sánchez of corruption and abandoning the rule of law.   

“Exchanging votes for impunity is corruption,” Alberto Núñez Feijóo, head of the Popular Party, said Saturday at a meeting in the Basque region, before vowing a day later at a rally in Valencia that “we will defend Spain”.   

Sánchez already has the support of the more moderate Republican Left of Catalonia (ERC) party which runs the north-eastern region, but has yet to nail down the backing of Together for Catalonia (Junts Per Catalunya), the party of Carles Puigdemont, who led the 2017 events.   

“We are in the final straight of very difficult negotiations, which will allow us to open a new era” in Catalonia, said Jaume Asens, a left-wing party negotiator, Monday.

READ ALSO: Catalan separatist keeps Spain waiting on government deal

Defend Spain

The controversial amnesty project, which would need approval from parliament, has for weeks roiled the conservative opposition, which has raised its tone in recent days and promised to block its application.

Another rally against amnesty is planned in the capital Madrid on Saturday November 18th.   

The opposition accuses Sánchez, who once opposed amnesty, to be willing to do anything to stay in power.   

Feijóo’s PP finished first in the recent parliamentary elections but failed to form a coalition.

READ ALSO: Thousands rally in Spain against amnesty plans for Catalan separatists

“End of the rule of law”

Members of the judiciary have also stepped up their criticism.

The Professional Association of Magistrates, a conservative body that represents the majority of the country’s judges, last Thursday issued a statement calling the measures “the beginning of the end of democracy” that would “destroy the rule of law”.

The General Council of the Judiciary, the body that names Spain’s judges, will meet later Monday to discuss the issue.

Conservative members of the body said an amnesty would represent a “degradation and even an elimination of the rule of law”.

After a failed Catalan secession attempt in 2017, hundreds of people were pursued by Spanish prosecutors, spurring claims of repression.

The main leaders of the movement fled abroad, including Puigdemont, or were jailed with sentences that went up to 13 years in prison.

Elected to power just a month after the secession attempt, with the support of separatists, Sánchez has made reducing tensions in Catalonia a priority.   

In 2021, he pardoned the nine jailed separatists and the following year his government reformed the Spanish legal code to remove the crime of sedition, under which they had been condemned.   

READ ALSO: Who are the ‘thousands’ of people who could benefit from Spain’s amnesty?

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POLITICS

What will Spain’s PM do next after resignation threat?

Sánchez's shock threat of resignation after a dubious corruption probe into his wife has kicked off a period of political uncertainty. What card will the Spanish PM play next according to the experts, or is he truly planning to step down?

Published: 26 April 2024 09:59 CEST
What will Spain's PM do next after resignation threat?

Pedro Sánchez, in office since 2018, wrote in a four-page letter posted on social media on Wednesday that he would suspend public duties while he “reflects” on whether he wants to continue leading the government.

The Socialist leader denounced “the seriousness of the attacks” against him and his wife, saying it was part of a campaign of “harassment” waged by the right and far right who “do not accept the election results”.

READ ALSO: Who is Begoña Gómez? Spanish PM’s partner thrust into spotlight

Sánchez, an expert in political survival who has made a career out of taking political gambles, said he would announce his decision on Monday.

Some analysts said he could decide to stay on, with this move aimed at rallying support and regaining the initiative in the face of the right-wing opposition at a time of extreme polarisation in Spanish politics.

“Sánchez is a political animal,” said Oriol Bartomeus, a political scientist at the Autonomous University of Barcelona, adding “he has decided to go on the attack” to try to “change the rules of the debate”.

Paloma Román, a political scientist at Madrid’s Complutense University, said Sánchez had “slammed his fist on the table” as part of a “strategy aimed at putting the spotlight where he wants it”.

Sánchez could file a confidence motion in parliament to show that he and his minority government are still supported by a majority of lawmakers in parliament.

Catalan separatist leader Carles Puigdemont, whose JxCat party is an unpredictable ally of the government, has urged Sánchez to pick this option.

READ ALSO: What happens and who takes over if Spain’s Prime Minister resigns?

For the confidence motion to succeed, Sánchez would just need the backing of a simple majority in the assembly and most of the parties which prop up his minority government have already shown their unconditional support.

Catalan separatist party ERC said it would vote in favour of a confidence motion while hard-left party Podemos, which has clashed with Sánchez in the past, blasted attacks by “the political, media and judicial right” on the prime minister and the left in general.

While the conservative opposition has accused Sánchez of playing the victim to rally support, analysts said the possibility that he will resign cannot be completely ruled out.

“Sánchez’s closest advisers and the leadership of the Socialist party will probably spend the coming days trying to convince him to stay,” said Teneo analyst Antonio Barroso.

“The fact that the prime minister allegedly did not consult any of his advisers when drafting the letter suggests personal reasons might be his main motivation. This makes Sánchez’s decision particularly hard to predict.”

If Sánchez does step down, the Socialist party could propose that parliament appoint someone else as head of the government, with Budget Minister María Jesús Montero, who also serves as deputy prime minister, touted as a likely contender.

But Barroso said it “would probably be hard for Montero to cobble together a majority” in Spain’s highly fractured parliament.

Sánchez could instead resign and call snap elections but he would not be able to do so before May 29 since a year must pass between consecutive dissolutions of parliament.

With the Socialists trailing the main opposition conservative Popular Party in opinion polls, this is a risky strategy, although analysts said Sánchez may bet that leftist voters will be galvanised by the controversy sparked by his resignation.

READ ALSO: Spanish prosecutors question credibility of corruption probe against PM’s wife

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