Alberto Núñez Feijóo’s position change
The PSOE has sent a letter to the European Commission informing of the change in Alberto Núñez Feijóo’s position regarding Carles Puigdemont. In this letter, it is mentioned that the leader of the PP is open to a “reconciliation plan” with the Catalan independence movement. This new position is based on an off-the-record conversation that Feijóo had with journalists in Galicia, where he admitted that he would be willing to grant a conditional pardon to Puigdemont and that he studied an amnesty law for 24 hours. Furthermore, he considers it difficult for Spanish judges to prove that the president of the Generalitat in exile committed a crime of terrorism during the process.
The relevance of this information
The PSOE highlights in the letter that the information published in various Spanish media in recent days may be of interest to the European Commission. This is due to the PP’s offensive in Europe to delegitimize the Government’s relationship with the independence movement. The PSOE insists that the popular ones do not have the same values in public as they do in private and that their criticism of Pedro Sánchez’s pacts with the independence movement lacks credibility. Furthermore, they highlight that Feijóo’s confession comes after Puigdemont, in an article published in ElNacional.cat, mentioned the PSOE’s approaches to Junts.
Letter recipients
The letter, signed by the leader of the European Social Democrats, Iratxe García, is addressed to the European Commissioner for Justice, Didier Reynders, and the Community Vice President for Values and Transparency, Věra Jourová. It has also been sent to the president of the Venice Commission, Claire Bazy Malaurie; the president of the Committee on Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs of the European Parliament, Juan Fernando López Aguilar; and the president of the Democracy, Rule of Law and Fundamental Rights Monitoring Group of the European Parliament, Sophie in’t Veld.
PP approaches to Junts and ERC
In addition to Feijóo’s change of position, the socialists mention in the letter that the PP also approached Junts per Catalunya and ERC. Feijóo admitted that his party studied for 24 hours the possibility of agreeing with Junts per Catalunya on an amnesty law in exchange for his inauguration as President of the Government. On the other hand, the general secretary of ERC, Marta Rovira, confirmed that the PP also approached her party last August to explore the support of the independence party for an investiture of Feijóo. However, PP sources denied this information and reduced their offer to a request to “let the most voted list govern.”
