Catalan parliament to draft and seek approval of amnesty law in Spain's Congress

Chamber agrees to find support abroad for a negotiated independence referendum

President Pere Aragonès, center, in Parliament on September 30, 2021 (by Job Vermeulen)
President Pere Aragonès, center, in Parliament on September 30, 2021 (by Job Vermeulen) / ACN

ACN | Barcelona

September 30, 2021 09:09 PM

The Catalan parliament has voted in favor of drafting an amnesty bill, which would benefit members of the independence movement who have become embroiled in legal disputes, and seek its approval in Spain's Congress.  

The motion, which was passed on Thursday evening by the chamber's Esquerra Republicana, Junts per Catalunya and CUP pro-independence majority views an amnesty as "the only solution to end all of the political repression of the recent years" as well as essential to "de-judicializing and resolving the conflict through democratic and political means."

"The right to self-determination is the democratic way of solving the conflict between Catalonia and Spain," the text reads, calling for "the possible intervention of European and international organizations in order to hold a negotiated referendum on independence."

Anti-austerity Comuns abstained, while the Socialists, the conservative People's Party, and far-right Vox voted against it.

The Parliament, however, rejected a separate measure put forth by far-left CUP which called on holding a referendum by the end of this political term.