Spain's Constitutional Court expected to back amnesty for Catalan pro-independence leaders

Spain's Constitutional Court is set to rule on Tuesday on whether the 2024 amnesty law can be applied to the alleged misuse of public funds by leaders of Catalonia's 2017 independence bid.

The decision could clear the way for former president Carles Puigdemont and other senior pro-independence figures to return to Catalonia.

The court will only vote on a draft concerning former minister Dolors Bassa after conservative judge José María Macías withdrew his draft concerning former minister Jordi Turull.

Both drafts back applying the amnesty to the misuse of public funds, although Macías's draft on Turull is written against his own position.

Approval of the draft would determine the Supreme Court's next steps: It plans to apply the amnesty and lift the existing arrest warrants once the Constitutional Court issues its first ruling.

The ruling would also set the legal framework for the court's decisions on appeals by other senior figures in the independence movement, including former Catalan president Carles Puigdemont, whose case is not being considered on Tuesday.

Majority to back amnesty 

The initial plan was to debate Macías's ruling on Turull's appeal first, but the conservative judge has agreed not to put it to a vote so that the first ruling to be approved can instead be that of the Constitutional Court president concerning Bassa's appeal.

The Constitutional Court is expected to announce its decision on Bassa on Tuesday, although the full judgment setting out its legal reasoning will take several days to draft.

Once published, the ruling is expected to be sent immediately to the Supreme Court.

That ruling will establish the legal framework for subsequent appeals involving Puigdemont, Turull, Toni Comín, Lluís Puig, Oriol Junqueras and Raül Romeva.

However, Supreme Court judge Pablo Llarena is not expected to wait for the Constitutional Court to rule on each case individually. Once the first judgment is published, he plans to apply its legal doctrine to the other leaders, which would render ineffective Spain's arrest warrants still in force against Puigdemont, Comín and Puig.

The ruling could also restore Junqueras's eligibility to hold public office. The Esquerra Republicana (ERC) leader, who is currently barred from doing so until 2031, has said he wants to run again for president of Catalonia if the amnesty is applied to him.

The legal dispute

The Constitutional Court's deliberations centre on the Supreme Court’s decision to exclude the misuse of public funds from the amnesty.

The Supreme Court has argued that the independence leaders "obtained a personal benefit of a financial nature" by using public money to fund the 2017 referendum, allowing them to pursue their political objectives without spending their own money.

The Supreme Court had also argued that the referendum could have affected the European Union's financial interests, but the Court of Justice of the European Union rejected that argument in a July ruling. The remaining dispute therefore centres on whether the use of public funds amounted to a personal financial benefit.

Puigdemont's return

The Constitutional Court ruling could pave the way for Puigdemont to return to Catalonia. He has lived in exile in Belgium since the 2017 referendum and has not said what he plans to do if he can return.

In an interview with The Sunday Times on September 20, Puigdemont said he had been prepared to spend the rest of his life in exile when he left for Waterloo and "still is," but that if he returns he wants to "touch, feel and smell the country again." He said he envisaged "two or three scenarios" for his return without elaborating.