Carles Puigdemont congratulated himself from Belgium on Thursday on the approval of the amnesty law, of which he has claimed his paternity in the first person. “The amnesty was part of Pedro Sánchez's investiture agreement and today, six months later, it has been fulfilled,” the Junts leader puffs out his chest. The candidate for the presidency of the Generalitat believes that now that the standard has been approved by Congress, Spain is “correcting a mistake”, but has assured that the government must “continue to take a path that will not be rosy”.
“Today a historic event has occurred in the long, unresolved struggle between Catalonia and the Spanish state,” he said in a message broadcast over his party's networks. “It is the first time in 46 years that amnesty has been approved for political reasons,” he continued, after emphasizing that “until less than a year ago the PSOE flatly refused.” As the leader of the Junts understands, the reason that led Congress to adopt this law is “the will of the Catalans, expressed through Parliament”, which he defined as “holding the position” and “exploiting opportunities when they arise'.
In the same vein, the silent MEP explained that the amnesty was an “indispensable” condition to “be able to negotiate on equal terms”, a phrase with which he makes it clear that he wants to continue seeking agreements with the government, as it has last July.
Unlike the ERC, which has placed the amnesty as a kind of flying target in the race to the referendum, Puigdemont has made no reference to a vote on independence. On the other hand, he has cited the need to address other issues long claimed by sovereignty, such as the 2010 constitutional ruling on the statute.
For his part, the acting president of the Generalitat, Pere Aragonès, has done so celebrated this Thursday the approval of the amnesty law as a “victory for the country, for Catalan society as a whole” and claims that it serves to open a new phase of negotiations on the independence referendum. The law tested in Congress is “a historic milestone” that “ends years of harsh repression,” said Aragonès, who has also warned that the law must be defended against attempts that will come to prevent its application.
“The amnesty law puts an end to years of repression of representatives of institutions and citizens who exercised their right to protest. “It puts an end to the suffering of a majority part of society that has always resisted repression,” the head of government said.
“The amnesty is a victory for the country, a victory for Catalonia. From here I would like to thank all the people who made this possible with their perseverance. To all those people who made it possible with words through the power of negotiation and dialogue.”
In a similar tone, this Thursday morning during the plenary session of Congress, ERC spokesperson Gabriel Rufián put aside his differences with the Junts for a day to congratulate the entire independence movement for achieving this law. At the same time, the delegate has linked the new normal to the achievement of an agreed referendum on independence, something that Aragonès reiterated and expanded in the afternoon, in an institutional appearance.
“The amnesty alone does not resolve the conflict; it is necessary to address the underlying causes, the clash of legitimacy and the roots of the conflict, giving the last word to the citizens,” said the outgoing president of the Generalitat, who has defended a new impetus for the negotiations with the state. “I am convinced that the amnesty is a historic milestone on the path to full freedom, from which citizens will know how to benefit,” he added.