Spain MPs back amnesty law for Catalan separatists

Catalan MPs celebrated outside Spain's Congress of Deputies after MPs backed the amnesty law

Spain's Congress has approved a controversial amnesty law that seeks to benefit nationalists facing legal action for separatist activity in the north-eastern region of Catalonia.

The law, a revised version of a bill rejected in January, received 178 votes in the 350-seat chamber.

The amnesty aims to remove pending legal action against people accused of separatist activity, mainly stemming from a 2017 Catalan bid for secession.

It now has to be backed by the Senate.

Socialist Party spokesman Patxi López said the amnesty helped "end a period of conflict and open a time of reconciliation and unity".

The most high-profile potential beneficiary of the law is former Catalan regional president Carles Puigdemont, who led the failed independence attempt and has been living in Belgium ever since, to avoid the reach of the Spanish courts.

Mr Puigdemont is being investigated for terrorism-related crimes for his alleged role in protests in 2019.

However, his Together for Catalonia (JxCat) party voted against the amnesty in January, arguing that it failed to provide guarantees protecting him and several others from prosecution for terrorism.

The revised version of the bill stipulates that only crimes deemed terrorism by the EU, rather than Spanish law, will be unprotected by the amnesty.

The parliamentary support of Mr Puigdemont's JxCat and the fellow pro-secession Catalan Republican Left (ERC) has been crucial in allowing Socialist Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez to govern since his investiture in November.

Three years ago, Mr Sánchez's Socialist government granted pardons to nine Catalan separatists who were given long jail terms for their part in a 2017 independence declaration after a referendum declared illegal by the courts. The amnesty could benefit hundreds of people.

While Mr Sánchez has insisted the initiative aims to improve the social and political climate in Catalonia, his critics say it is unconstitutional and is purely aimed at maintaining the support of nationalists.

Isabel Díaz Ayuso, who is president of the Madrid region for the opposition conservative People's Party (PP), described it as "the most corrupt law of our democracy". PP leader Alberto Núñez Feijóo said the prime minister had now "fulfilled everything" that the separatists had asked for, with the sole aim of remaining in office "for a while".

Mr Puigdemont has been thrust further into the spotlight after Catalan President Pere Aragonès on Wednesday called a snap election for 12 May, because parties were unable to agree on the region's annual budget.

JxCat's secretary general, Jordi Turull, has appeared to suggest that Mr Puigdemont will be the party's candidate for president of the region.

"The person we all have in mind will be in Catalonia on the day of the possible investiture debate," he said.

The timeframe of the amnesty bill's passage means it could be implemented shortly after the election.

The legislation will now go to the Senate, which, although it is controlled by the conservative PP, can only slow its progress until mid-May, when it would return to Congress for final approval.

The prospect of Mr Puigdemont, who is an MEP, being free of legal charges and running for office in Spain again could provide a major boost to his JxCat as it seeks to reassert itself as Catalonia's dominant political force.

He said the amnesty did not mark an end to the story but overcame "an erroneous stage of judicial and political repression of a political movement".

The Spanish prime minister praised the vote as opening a "new period of coexistence and prosperity in Catalonia", but the Catalan president said it marked a "new stage towards achieving liberty for Catalonia".