Reform and court cases; Spain’s political crisis intensifies

A reform that would allow the Chamber to delay the approval of the government’s controversial amnesty law for at least two months to benefit those responsible for the 2017 secessionist attempt in Catalonia was approved by the Spanish Senate – with a majority of Partido Popular (PP) – on Tuesday, while Vox filed a lawsuit against acting prime minister Pedro Sánchez for ‘cooperation with terrorism’.

Partido Popular, the main opposition force in Parliament, took advantage of its majority to push through a reform of the internal regulations of the Spanish territorial chamber and delay the approval of the contested law, which is fiercely opposed by the right and the far-right, and even by part of the left camp.

The measure went ahead with the support of the PP senators, Vox, the third force in parliament, and also had the backing of the right-wing nationalist party Unión del Pueblo Navarro (UPN), EFE reported.

The Socialist Party (PSOE/S&D), the progressive platform Sumar, of the acting Labour minister, Yolanda Díaz, who is poised to be Sánchez’s deputy PM in the future Government and other left-wing forces protested what they considered an “unconstitutional change” to the Senate’s internal rules with the sole aim of trying to block the norm.

The ‘blow for blow (coup)’ strategy

The left-wing parties, which are in a minority in the Senate, accused the PP on Tuesday of exercising “authoritarianism” and “filibustering” and of using a “blow for blow (coup)” strategy, as previously announced by the president of the Madrid region, Isabel Díaz Ayuso (PP), referring to –in her view- Sánchez’s coup d’etat against the Spanish democracy.

Carla Antonelli, a senator for the regional party Más Madrid, accused the PP of trying to stage a coup d’état from the Senate and introduce a “dictatorship of the losers (PP and Vox) through the back door”.

Following the reform of the internal law, the Senate will now be able to decide whether or not a bill (such as the amnesty law) that comes from Parliament will be processed through the urgent procedure (within 20 days) or through the ordinary procedure.

If the amnesty law is processed through the normal procedure, it will take at least two months to be passed, and even longer if exceptional circumstances occur, including parliamentary recessions in Christmas and New Year.

The change will also force Pedro Sánchez and any of the ministers of his future government to appear in the Senate to give explanations of their management.

On Tuesday late in the afternoon, the PSOE registered the amnesty bill in Parliament, although the text only bore the signature of that party. The other formations that support Sánchez, above all, the Basque and Catalan separatists and nationalist parties, did not sign the document.

Catalan separatists to reset the ‘pro-independence clock’

Particularly striking was the absence of the signatures of the two main Catalan separatist parties, Junts Per Catalunya (JxCat), of the former president of the regional government (Generalitat), Carles Puigdemont, and Esquerra Republicana de Catalunya (Republican Left of Catalonia, ERC), currently in the Catalan government.

Both separatist formations, however, tacitly -and explicitly with their agreements with the PSOE- have accepted that the amnesty means resetting their political clocks and that they will have to channel their future ambitions for a hypothetical independent Catalonia within the framework of the Spanish Constitution (of 1978), according to analysts quoted on Tuesday by public radio station Radio Nacional de España (RNE).

Sánchez’s investiture debate in Parliament takes place on Wednesday (15) and Thursday (16), by which time he could already be named as the new head of government with an absolute majority of 179 votes (out of 350 seats).

Although the pacts with the separatists are for the entire legislature and not just for his investiture, Sánchez will have to face stiff opposition from the right and the far-right.

On Tuesday, Vox President Santiago Abascal took Sánchez and Charles Puigdemont to the Supreme Court for four alleged crimes derived from the agreement between the PSOE and JxCat on the amnesty law and on the investiture pact of the socialist candidate.

Vox challenges Sánchez and Puigdemont before Justice for bribery, concealment or collaboration with terrorism, usurpation of functions of the judiciary and negotiations and activities prohibited to public officials and abuses in the exercise of their function, among other alleged crimes, EFE reported.

“Tomorrow marks the beginning of a tragic period in the history of Spain if we do not avoid it,” Abascal warned while recalling that all judicial bodies and law associations in Spain have sounded the alarm on the serious consequences of the pact between Sánchez and Puigdemont.

Following demonstrations against the amnesty law, some of them violent, outside the PSOE headquarters in Madrid recently, the Spanish police have stepped up the security around the Parliament building in the Spanish capital with 1,600 extra agents.

The climate of social tension fueled by the far-right and part of the right wing against the extraordinary measure of grace has been growing throughout the country since the agreement between Sánchez and Puigdemont was announced in Brussels on 9 November.

Due to the hostile climate against Sánchez, whom the right-wing considers a “traitor” to Spain, and also against Puigdemont, who will be able to return to Spain from his self-imposed exile in Belgium without fear of being arrested, the Spanish government on Tuesday accepted the former Catalan president’s request for a police escort in Brussels, where he is currently living.

“Nobody questions people’s security, no matter how many ideological differences there may be,” said Félix Bolaños (PSOE), the Minister of the Presidency.

(Fernando Heller | EuroEFE.Euractiv.es)