They transfer the pressure to the independence party and believe that if they oppose it they will have to explain it to their electorate
MADRID, 22 Feb. (EUROPA PRESS) –
The PSOE is willing not to put the amnesty law to a vote if it does not first reach an agreement with Junts that guarantees that the law will have the green light in Congress, according to socialist sources. The deadline ends on March 7 and, if the Justice Commission does not vote before, the initiative will decline.
Both Ferraz and Moncloa trust that an agreement will finally be reached and there will be an amnesty law, but in recent days they have tried to put pressure on Junts, pointing out that they do not intend to move from their current position, since they consider that the law as it stands currently drafted includes all those involved in the process and is also constitutional.
The sources of the socialist leadership consulted see it as “very difficult” for Junts not to reach an agreement and point out that in that case they would run in the next Catalan elections, scheduled for 2025, without that agreement and it could take its toll on them. Other sources from Ferraz’s leadership influence this idea and believe that the pressure that in their opinion there is on Junts in Catalonia, with hundreds of people who depend on the amnesty law, will end up leading them to sign.
This same week, government sources reminded Junts that the socialists do not have among their ranks possible beneficiaries of the amnesty law, unlike the neoconvergents, and indicated that in any case, whether there is a law or not, they will continue to govern.
Now they go one step further and point out that if there is no prior agreement with Junts they will not bring the law to a vote. In this way they would avoid an extreme situation such as the validation of several decree laws in January of this year.
That day there was uncertainty until the last second about what the meaning of Junts’ vote would be, which finally supported it in exchange for a series of concessions such as the commitment to transfer immigration powers to Catalonia, the publication of fiscal balances and measures for the return of companies that left because of the process.
The President of the Government, Pedro Sánchez, has defended on several occasions the amnesty law as it is currently drafted and did so again the day before from Morocco, where he was on an official trip.
Sánchez was convinced that there will finally be an amnesty and assured that the rule already covers all the assumptions of the hundreds of people involved in the independence process in Catalonia, it is constitutional and also has all the guarantees to be able to carry it out.
This Wednesday, January 21, the deadline for the Justice Commission to issue a new opinion on the proposed amnesty law and send it to the plenary session for a vote expired. However, an extension was approved to extend the deadline for two more weeks, until March 7, which will now be the deadline for PSOE and Junts to reach an agreement.
The amnesty law proposal was returned to the Justice Commission after Junts failed in the organic rank vote in the Plenary Session of Congress on January 30. The party of former president Carles Puigdemont has been demanding more guarantees that all those involved in the process will benefit from the rule.
They fear that the latest actions of the judges handling the judicial cases arising from the process could undermine the effects of the amnesty, as is the case of the judge of the National Court, Manuel García Castellón, who is investigating the case of ‘Democratic Tsunami’ or Joaquín Aguirre which investigates the so-called Russian plot in the ‘Voloh case’.
In any case, there can no longer be new extensions because article 131.2 of the Regulation makes it clear that if an organic initiative fails to obtain the vote of the absolute majority and has to be returned to the corresponding commission, it “must issue a new opinion.” within a month.”
As the Amnesty Law is processed through the emergency procedure – which implies reducing the deadlines by half – the Board, following the criteria of the legal services, set a first period of 15 days for the new opinion, and has now granted an extension of the same duration.
The socialists do not want to detail what would happen if the end of the term is finally reached without an agreement, although the sources consulted do not completely close the door to registration again: “We will see,” they indicate.
