Council of Europe’s advisory body endorses Spanish amnesty law

The Venice Commission, a constitutional advisory body of the Council of Europe (COE), would support Spain’s amnesty law, although it suggests improvements to the text and calls for calm dialogue before approval, according to a draft report seen by Euractiv’s partner EFE.

EFE has access to a draft report on the law, agreed by the ruling Socialist Party and Catalonia’s two main separatist forces – Together for Catalonia (JxCat) and the Republican Left of Catalonia (ERC) – which is still in the parliamentary process in Spain and will be re-examined by the COE’s consultative body on 15 March.

The Commission’s preliminary opinion has been warmly welcomed in the ranks of the PSOE as an endorsement of Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez’s vision that the future norm is a “perfect” legal tool to promote “reconciliation” in Catalonia after several years of turbulent relations between Madrid and the prosperous Spanish north-western region.

Sánchez depends on the parliamentary backing of JxCat, ERC, the right-wing Basque PNV and the radical left-wing Basque EH-Bildu to remain in power. Among Sanchez’s many concessions to Catalan separatists is a generous amnesty law, while he pledged multiple economic and political concessions to the Basque formations.

On Saturday, PSOE spokesman in parliament, Patxi López, urged the People’s Party (Partido Popular/EPP), the main opposition force, to accept the opinion of the Council of Europe’s experts.

“Partido Popular, in this case, should shut up a little more and have a little more shame”, he said.

According to Jaume Asens, former MP and member of the left-wing Sumar platform, the PSOE’s junior ally in the progressive executive, an agreement between the Socialist Party, JxCat and ERC is “imminent” and could be announced early this week, EFE reported.

Clear path for Puigdemont’s return to Spain

The announcement of a final agreement would pave the way for the amnesty bill to be approved in parliament and then sent to the Senate, where the Partido Popular has a majority. The right-wing formation has already announced that it will try to delay the approval of the norm, which it considers unconstitutional.

Both the PP and the far-right Vox party, the third force in parliament, have announced that they will fiercely oppose the norm, which pardons separatist actions committed between 2012 and 2023, possibly including “terrorism” offences, with regular street demonstrations and a robust offensive before the Spanish Supreme Court, the Constitutional Court and the EU Court of Justice.

Puigdemont, who has been under investigation by the Supreme Court since Thursday for “terrorism” offences in the so-called “democratic tsunami” case, would be legally “shielded” under the latest version of the amnesty text, Asens said. This would pave the way for his return to Spain from Belgium, where he went into self-exile following the Catalan secessionist attempt in October 2017.

Meanwhile, on X, the former president of the Catalan government (Generalitat) urged all separatist forces (both right and left) to “come together” and “reunite” in a “new stage” in which they “leave defeatism behind” and “pick up the thread where we had to leave it”.

A fully independent report

The advisory body warned that its role was not to intervene in the political debate in Spain nor to rule on the appropriateness of the proposed law, as these were political decisions to be taken by the Spanish government and parliament, RTVE reported.

It also said that in its next – and final – report, the body will not give an opinion on the constitutionality or compatibility with EU law.

The draft text supports the possibility of an amnesty law as long as it meets the requirements of legality, respect for international law, legal certainty through a clear definition of the acts covered by the law and the exceptions to it, a procedure that allows for debate and participation, and respect for the independence of the judiciary, among other “red lines”.

Separation of powers in Spain is not endangered

In its preliminary conclusions, the Commission also states that the draft amnesty law does not jeopardise the separation of powers in Spain.

However, it recalls that the proposal has provoked deep – and in some cases violent – divisions within Spanish society, the institutions, the judiciary and the academic world, and encourages all authorities to take the necessary time to engage in meaningful dialogue.

The Commission also makes several recommendations, noting that the scope of the controversial law is very broad and rather indeterminate, and therefore suggests that it be defined more precisely so that its effects are more predictable.

It also suggests that the criterion by which “terrorist crimes” are or are not excluded depends on whether or not there is a final judgement, an aspect that has subsequently been modified by amendments since the 13 November version used by the Council of Europe’s advisory body for its analysis, should be removed.

(Fernando Heller | EuroEFE.Euractiv.es)