Yet the amnesty for Catalan separatists who sought to breakaway from Madrid six years ago is seen as widely unpopular in Spain. It has already sparked violent protests, could further fan the fires of nationalism and lift the prospects of the far-right forces that underperformed expectations in the last vote.
The deal, reached after a lengthy negotiation in which Catalan figures pushed for the broadest amnesty possible, would grant legal protection to hundreds of separatists and Catalan politicians for alleged crimes largely related to Catalonia’s illegal vote and declaration of independence in 2017.
“It is a historic opportunity to solve a conflict that should only be solved through politics,” Santos Cerdan, secretary general of Sánchez ’s Socialist Party, told reporters in Brussels. “Despite the huge divergences, we are ready to open a new historic stage.”
Cerdan said the details of the amnesty law, which must be approved by parliament and is set to be challenged by the right-wing opposition in the Constitutional Court, would not be released until it had been viewed by other parties supporting Sánchez. But he said the law would cover alleged crimes tied to the independence movement that occurred between 2012 to 2023. Cerdan did not mention specific names or the number of those covered, and said it would be up to judges to decide if the law applied in any specific case.
Much attention has centered on the most prominent Catalan political leader, Carles Puigdemont — who has been living in self-imposed exile in Belgium to avoid arrest on charges of rebellion and misuse of public funds. A Spanish judge has further asked to question him on terror charges linked to 2019 protests against the sentencing of nine Catalan politicians in connection with the 2017 vote. Theoretically, those charges could also be covered by the broad definition of the amnesty.
In recent days, negotiations of an amnesty deal have driven thousands of people to protest. Shouting “end the treason,” they have rallied in front of Socialist Party headquarters in Madrid and other Spanish cities, confronting tear-gas wielding police. Some unsuccessfully sought to enter the halls of parliament.
“We are facing a coup d’état, which is what the [acting government] is trying to commit at this moment,” Santiago Abascal, head of the far-right Vox Party, told supporters during anti-government protests in Madrid this week. “Selling the nation, trampling on the Constitution, destroying equality between citizens and giving away an amnesty against the Constitution, only in exchange of votes to remain in power.”
Most of those protesting have been from the political right. But a national survey by the GAD3 polling firm for ABC Madrid released this week showed the agreement was opposed by nearly 60 percent of respondents.
“It’s extremely unpopular, especially among the right, but it’s somewhat unpopular for a bunch of left wing voters also,” said Lluís Orriols, a political scientist at Madrid’s Carlos III University. Because it keeps the Socialists in power, “some left-wing voters are convinced that perhaps this is positive,” he said. “But people don’t like it. It connects a lot with national identity.”
European Union officials also expressed concern, with the bloc’s justice commissioner, Didier Reynders sending a letter to senior Spanish authorities this week demanding further details of the amnesty, and reminding them of the need to “ensure respect for the rule of law.”
“Serious concerns are now being voiced as regards ongoing discussions on the possible adoption of an amnesty law,” Reynders wrote in a letter to Spain’s Presidency Minister Felipe Bolanos and Justice Minister Pilar Llop.
Sánchez himself previously declared an amnesty unconstitutional. His government sought to soften the punishments for separatist leaders in other ways, granting pardons in 2021 to nine politicians jailed for their involvement in the independence referendum, removing the crime of sedition from the penal code and reducing the sentencing for misuse of public funds.
Now, though, Sánchez has said amnesty is important for national healing.
“Catalonia is ready for a total reunification,” Sánchez told his party leadership last month. “In the name of Spain, in the interest of Spain, in defense of coexistence among Spaniards, I defend today the amnesty in Catalonia for the events of the past decade.”
Sánchez also sold the deal to his party as the only way to maintain power — and prevent a new government that could include far-right Vox.
To win over the Republican Left of Catalonia, the Socialists also agreed to cancel 15 billion euros in Catalan regional debt and transfer control of a commuter rail service to the Catalan government.
The question about the constitutionality of amnesty, however, persists.
Spain’s administrative judicial body — the General Council of the Judiciary, which skews conservative — took the highly unusual step this week of preemptively expressing “intense concern and desolation for what the amnesty implies for the degradation, if not abolition, of the rule of law in Spain.”
Opposition parties have vowed to challenge the amnesty before Spain’s Constitutional Court, which leans progressive. If the law is struck down, analysts view a collapse of a new Sánchez government as likely.
