Socialists do not agree to remove terrorism from exclusions or speed up law enforcement
The amnesty law that will be voted on tomorrow in the Congress of Deputies will not have the support of the PSOE in the amendments proposed by ERC and Junts to extend its scope and effectiveness. The deputy of the PSC José Zaragoza confirmed today in an interview with RTVE that the socialists maintain their rejection of these modifications, which were already rejected in the Justice committee of the lower house. Zaragoza has argued that they will not change their criteria and that the current text is the most appropriate.
Two transactional amendments agreed by several groups
The amnesty law proposal incorporated in the Justice committee two transactional amendments agreed by PSOE, Sumar, ERC, Bildu, PNB, Junts and Podem. These amendments state that the law will only exclude terrorism offenses that have caused “serious violations of human rights”, while all other offenses will be amnestied. This represents a difference from the initial text, which excluded all terrorism offenses without nuance.
The living amendment of independence to eliminate terrorism from exclusions
However, ERC and Junts consider that this transactional amendment is not sufficient and that it is necessary to remove terrorism from the law’s exclusions. This is the live amendment maintained by the two pro-independence parties, who also want the law to include ‘lawfare’ cases and to be applied quickly and automatically. This lively amendment is also shared by the PNB, which has joined the Junts initiative.
Discreet negotiations until the last moment
Despite the rejection of the PSOE, ERC and Junts do not give up on continuing to negotiate until the last moment to get their lively amendments accepted. This was expressed yesterday by the president of Junts, Laura Borràs, from Igualada, and today by the spokeswoman for ERC, Raquel Sans, in a press conference. Both emphasized that the negotiations are carried out with the utmost discretion and that they do not close the door to any agreement.
A political victory for independence
In any case, both ERC and Junts defended that the amnesty law to be approved tomorrow is the “best possible law”, taking into account the consensus it required. They also pointed out that the law is another tool for independence and that it represents a political victory over State repression. “From a legislative point of view, it is as robust as possible. The repression that may come will not depend on this law,” said Sans.
