The amnesty faces the final vote in Congress this Tuesday with some pending amendments and with the general impression that the final text will have holes that the judges will take advantage of to hinder – or at least delay as much as possible – the application of the law. The independentists consider that the simple reference to terrorism already reduces the scope of the law, while the PSC warns that the amendments added to the PSOE initiative weaken the text. “With our proposals I would be convinced without a doubt [that Puigdemont and Rovira would be protected], with the modifications there is always this danger”, declared the deputy of the PSC in Congress, José Zaragoza, in an interview with RTVE.
No room for further changes
Zaragoza has asserted that there is no room to negotiate more changes to the law and has advanced that the socialist deputies will vote against the new amendments that ERC and Junts may present to Congress. The socialist deputy has insisted that his party has “dialogued” with the pro-independence parties and that, if it had been up to his party, the text that would have come out of the report and the Justice committee would have been different. “We have to resolve the rift created by the pro-independence parties and the PP”, said Zaragoza, who positioned the PSOE and the PSC as impartial actors in the political conflict between Catalonia and Spain.
Criticism of independence and the Government
The socialist deputy has also taken the opportunity to brag about the talks with ERC and Junts and has assured that they are a “decisive” party because they have managed to get the two pro-independence forces to reach agreements. “We are the only ones who managed to get ERC and Junts to agree in Madrid”, said, ironically, the socialist leader, who recalled that in Parliament they have not been able to understand each other since Junts left the Government a year and a half ago .
Zaragoza has also criticized the inaction of the Generalitat in recent years and has accused the pro-independence parties of having forgotten day-to-day management in order to face the political conflict with Spain. “For 14 years the Government has been obsessed with a political conflict and has not taken care of the problems that affect the people”, added the deputy following the socialist line of argument of the last months, which includes constant attacks on the president of the Generalitat and ERC, with whom they have to negotiate the budgets for 2024. “Aragonès is very concerned about being a candidate and not much about being president”, he reiterated. “He has no project”.
