'Wonderful news,' or 'illegal transaction' after Constitutional Court backs amnesty law

Spanish PM Pedro Sánchez welcomed the Constitutional Court's decision to back the amnesty law, calling it "wonderful news for Spain, for its coexistence and cohesion".

"We are satisfied because we have always maintained that the law passed by Congress would be constitutional, and this has now been confirmed," he said on Thursday.

Sánchez argued that the legislative process exemplified the strength of Spanish democracy.

"The law was approved by a chamber elected by citizens, underwent debate and appeals, and has now been ruled constitutional by a court," he stated.

Referring to the Catalan independence movement, the PM described it as "a very difficult conflict in Spain" and said that the amnesty law was a "lever for transformation" and a "contribution to its resolution".

The PM spoke after the Constitutional Court backed an amnesty law voted for by Congress in May last year to grant an amnesty to figures related to the Catalan independence push between November 2011 and November 2023.

The law is part of a deal signed between Catalan pro-independence parties and the Socialist group to see Pedro Sánchez reelected as PM.

After four days of deliberations, the court endorsed the amnesty law on Thursday as predicted, via the votes of the progressive majority, with 6 votes in favor and 4 against it.

"Illegal transaction"

The leader of the opposition in the Spanish Congress, and leader of the People's Party, Alberto Núñez Feijóo, has said that the "autoamnesty" is clearly "shameful" for any democracy, "regardless of what a divided Constitutional Court says."

During a press conference in Brussels, he said that the amnesty is an "illegal and corrupt transaction." Feijóo said that the "amnesty is illegal, immoral, and a corrupt transaction of power and an attack against the separation of powers."

Political dialogue

A few minutes after Spanish PM Pedro Sánchez spoke, Catalan president Salvador Illa addressed the territory in a televised statement from the government's headquarters at the Plaça Sant Jaume in Barcelona.

He said, in Catalan, Spanish, and English, that the "amnesty law has worked" and that the law has already "benefited" over 300 people. Illa also mentioned that "things across Catalonia are better," and that the vote from the Constitutional Court marks a "turning point towards full normality of a plural society."

The Catalan president also talked that "the Constitutional has spoken, so it does not make sense to put breaks to the law," and also criticized that there are still people "who have not been able to benefit of the amnesty law," so he is "urgently" asking for the law to be enforced.

Illa also spoke in English and said that the "democracy is solid and with institutional guarantees. Political dialogue and institutional normality govern public life."

During his statement, he also said that "Catalonia has once again become actively involved in the state government, recovering its traditional economic dynamism and cultural viability to fully engage in improving Spain and constructing a stronger Europe."

Illa's message to the judges of the Spanish Supreme Court to implement the amnesty law could be read as support for former Catalan president Carles Puigdemont, who is still awaiting an amnesty.

Puigdemont has not been granted an amnesty as the Supreme Court ruled that it does not apply to those accused of misuse of public funds. The Supreme Court rejected Puigdemont's appeal on Wednesday, which means the former president can now appeal to the Constitutional Court.

However, the latter did not address the misuse of public funds, as it was not mentioned in the appeal against the amnesty law filed by the People's Party; therefore, it was not part of this week's four-day debate and vote on Thursday.

Pro-independence parties call for amnesty to be implemented

Pro-independence party Esquerra Republicana (ERC) welcomed the Constitutional Court's ruling.

Their spokesperson on anti-repression issues, Joan Ignasi Elena, called the decision a "success" for democracy and the pro-independence movement.

In a press conference at the Catalan Parliament on Thursday, Elena urged courts and judges to apply the amnesty.

He also said that Esquerra will consider submitting a petition to the Supreme Court to request the law's implementation.

"Now it's time to comply," Elena said, calling for an end to the drawn-out legal ordeals of pro-independence figures.

Junts, the other main pro-independence party, struck a similar tone, welcoming the ruling while calling for the law to be applied in full.

"The law is not being fully implemented because of the rebellion of many sectors of the judiciary, particularly the Supreme Court, against the legislative branch," secretary general Jordi Turull said in a press conference.

Turull praised the amnesty law as a "victory for the independence movement" secured against the will of the PP, the Socialists and "very explicitly, President Illa."

He emphasized that the law "does not resolve the political conflict," or address "the will of millions of Catalans for Catalonia to become an independent state."

"It is simply a full rejection of the Spanish state's repression."

'Victory of reason'

Jaume Asens, an MEP for left-wing Comuns and one of the government's negotiators on the law, celebrated the Constitutional Court's endorsement of the amnesty law as a "victory of law, reason and dialogue" and a "defeat of hatred, revenge and the Popular Party."

Meanwhile, Spain's presidency minister Félix Bolaños said the amnesty "will not be complete until it is applied to all the protagonists of the independence process, including its leaders."

The head of the pro-independence civil society group Òmnium said after the ruling, the "excuses, scheming and delays" of the courts for not applying it are over.

"The political conflict will continue as long as there are exiles and Catalonia cannot decide [on independence] democratically," Xavier Antich said.

Far-left pro-independence CUP MP Laia Estrada said that while she is glad that there are people who have benefited from the law, it has not served to resolve the conflict, because the amnesty has not been associated with the right to self-determination.

On the other side of the political spectrum, the leader of far-right Vox in Catalonia, Ignacio Garriga, described the Constitutional Court (TC) as a "delegation" of Spain's ruling Socialists.

After the court endorsed the amnesty law, Garriga criticized the "destruction of equality and the rule of law."