Spain: Amnesty bill for Catalan separatists rejected

Spain's coalition government under Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez has suffered a setback after the lower house of parliament failed to pass a controversial law aiming to grant amnesty to Catalan separatists.

The enormously divisive law, put forward by Sanchez's Spanish Socialist Workers' Party (PSOE),  was a condition of hardline Catalan separatists' support for the prime minister's governing coalition, which depends on a patchwork of parties to pass legislation. 

The proposed law would have blocked legal action against hundreds of Catalan activists under investigation or facing trial for their roles in the attempted declaration of an independent Catalan state in 2017, first and foremost being exiled separatist leader Carles Puigdemont.

The bill will now return for debate in a parliamentary commission and could eventually be sent back for a fresh vote in the lower house.

What makes the bill so controversial?

The law had the support of the far-left Sumar party as well as regional Basque parties.

However, it was Puigdemont's own party, Junts per Catalunya (JxCat), "Together for Catalonia," that withdrew its support for the bill.

The separatist party said the bill did not secure guarantees that all exceptions related to terrorism would be removed from the bill. Some of the party's politicians are under investigation by courts over alleged terrorism-related crimes.

"This text is a good starting point.. but it has holes that Spain's prejudiced justice system can use to leave the amnesty in tatters," JxCat lawmaker Miriam Nogueras told parliament. 

Sanchez has said that without the Catalans' support, he could not have formed a government and that right-wing populists could have gained office after winning the most seats in the 2023 elections.

But the law could have paved the way for the return of Puigdemont, who fled to Belgium after leading the failed illegal secession bid that brought the country to the brink.

Tens of thousands of people protested in Madrid on Sunday, calling for the government to reject passing the legislation. 

Puigdemont and the issue of Catalan independence are unpopular for many Spaniards, and the amnesty bill has enraged conservative and far-right opposition parties that represent roughly half the country's population.

Speaking to 45,000 protesters in central Madrid at the weekend, Alberto Nunez Feijoo of the right-wing opposition Popular Party (PP) accused Sanchez of offering immunity to separatists who would see Spain broken up in exchange for power, which Feijoo called the "worst version of power."

mr/wmr (Reuters, AFP)