A delegation from the Council of Europe’s Venice Commission arrived in Madrid on Thursday to discuss details of the controversial amnesty law that would pardon Catalonian separatists involved in the unsuccessful and illegal 2017 independence bid, which Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez promised to push through in exchange for separatist votes in parliament.
According to official sources, it will be a working visit lasting several days to learn more about the bill Sanchez (PSOE/S&D) claims is in line with the Constitution and EU legislation. The delegation is also in Spain to discuss matters of the rule of law more broadly.
In addition to the Venice Commission‘s Secretary-General, Pierre Garrone, the delegation includes the body’s Director, Simona Granata-Menghini, the Vice-President for Italy, Marta Cartabia, the Vice-President for the Netherlands, Martin Kuijer, the Swiss representative, Regina Kiener, the Bulgarian lawyer, Philip Dimitrov, and the Mexican, José-Luis Vargas Valdez.
However, the main focus of their work will be whether Spain fully respects the principle of separation of powers, among other rules of law-related aspects, official sources told Euractiv’s partner EFE.
The delegation’s visit follows a request from the Senate, where the right-wing Partido Popular (PP/EPP), the main opposition force in parliament, has a majority and has warned that it will try to block the future law as much as possible during its passage through the lower house.
The extraordinary pardon law will open the door to amnesty for the main leaders of the Catalan separatist movement, including former Catalan president Carles Puigdemont, who has been in self-exile in Belgium since 2017 for his direct involvement in the grave events.
A completely “independent” delegation
The first meeting took place on Thursday with the Minister of Justice, Félix Bolaños (PSOE/S&D), as well as with several deputies and senators, several judges’ associations and the president of the General Council of the Judiciary (CGPJ), the highest body of judges in Spain, whose renewal has been blocked for five years and is the subject of a bitter confrontation between the PSOE and the PP.
According to Bolaños, the visit is “a great opportunity to explain the importance of the amnesty law to open a new stage of understanding (between Madrid and Catalonia) and its full compliance with the Constitution and EU law”.
Parliamentary sources told EFE on Thursday that all members of the Venice Commission stressed that they were “a committee of independent experts” and that they were coming to Spain to hear all opinions on the controversial norm.
The delegates of the Venice Commission will meet with the president of the Constitutional Court, Cándido Conde Pumpido, on Friday.
After completing their work, the delegates will issue a report on the future amnesty law due by mid-March.
The Venice Commission’s opinion was requested last December by the Senate’s highest governing body at the direct request of the PP.
Both the PP and the far-right Vox party, the third force in parliament, have announced that they will try to overturn the law, which they consider to be unconstitutional, in the Constitutional Court, the Supreme Court and even by appealing to the EU Court of Justice.
(Fernando Heller | EuroEFE.Euractiv.es)
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