Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez has backed away from his attempt to form a government. On Saturday, Sanchez said in a speech that he still supports the controversial amnesty deal for Catalan separatists.
“For the good of Spain and for the good of everyone who wants to live together in Spain, I support an amnesty in Catalonia. What’s done is done,” Sanchez said during a meeting of his socialist party PSOE in Madrid.
The Socialist Workers’ Party lost elections to the right-wing Popular Party in July. No one, except the very conservative VOS party, wants to form a government with the People’s Party. As a result, current Prime Minister Sanchez still sees opportunities to remain in office.
As expected, he was able to reach an agreement with the leftist Somar party, but he still needs two smaller Catalan parties to obtain an electoral majority. Therefore, Sanchez states that he still wants to grant amnesty to members of these two Catalan separatist parties.
Catalaans onafhankelijkheidsreferendum 2017
Op 1 oktober 2017 hield de regionale overheid van Catalonië een referendum over het uitroepen van onafhankelijkheid. Een groep Catalaanse separatisten onder leiding van Carles Puigdemont wilde de Catalaanse Republiek uitroepen, onafhankelijk van Spanje.
De Spaanse regering van premier Mariano Rajoy (PP) verzette zich hevig tegen het onafhankelijkheidsreferendum. Het grondwettelijk hof van Spanje verbood het referendum, maar Catalonië liet het toch doorgaan. De Spaanse overheid gebruikte daarop geweld om de gang naar de stembussen te hinderen. Daarbij raakten meer dan duizend mensen gewond.
Toch wist 42 procent van de stemgerechtigden zijn keuze door te geven. Liefst 90 procent stemde voor afscheiding.
Support from independence parties is highly controversial
The independence parties’ support is highly controversial, as they hoped to separate the region from the rest of Spain through an unconstitutional referendum in 2017.
The pardon will include Carles Puigdemont, who was then the face of the separatist movement. The politician has been living in Belgium for years to avoid the Spanish services that want to arrest him on charges of rebellion.
At the end of September, tens of thousands of people took to the streets of Madrid to protest a possible amnesty for Catalans. Many opinion polls in Spain show that the overwhelming majority of the country opposes granting amnesty.
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