Spain: the PSOE bows to the Catalan independence activists. Amnesty and referendum in Catalonia, bullets to the co-founder of Vox
The PSOE and Junts have reached an agreement to facilitate the investiture of Pedro Sánchez which also guarantees the “stability of the legislature” provided that progress is made in negotiations between the two parties. The joint document strives to limit the differences between the two parties to open, on this basis, a space for negotiation in which there will be an international verification mechanism, thus overcoming Spanish sovereignty. In which "the limits of self-government and those linked to the national recognition of Catalonia" will be addressed as "contents to be negotiated", opening the way to a further devolution of powers to the region and even to an independence refendum.
The agreement provides for the amnesty law "to guarantee full political, institutional and social normality as an essential requirement to face the challenges of the immediate future". The agreement clarifies that this law will include “both those responsible and citizens who, before and after the 2014 consultation and the 2017 referendum, were the subject of decisions or judicial processes related to these events”. In his press conference from Brussels, Santos Cedán made it clear that he will cover the period from 2012 to today. So the Junts MEPs in exile in Brussels for organizing the Catalan referendum in 2014 will be able to return home.
The agreement provides for the creation of commissions of inquiry during the next legislature whose conclusions "will be taken into consideration in the application of the amnesty law". The problem is that the PSOE had undertaken not to grant any amnesty for the events of 2017, i.e. for the independence referendum, so the commission is nothing more than a tool to save face.
In this negotiating forum Junts will propose to hold a self-determination referendum "on the political future of Catalonia protected by Article 92 of the Constitution", while the PSOE will support the evolution of the path to autonomy established in 2006. However, given that the presence of Junts is necessary for the government, this Catalan independence political force will have a good hand in pushing towards an independence path, despite the Spanish constitutional court having defined these requests as illegitimate in the past.
The agreement, the parties say, will open "a new stage and will help resolve the historic conflict over the political future of Catalonia". The parties believe that "an important part of Catalan society has carried out a great mobilization in favor of independence in recent years", a period which they call a response to the 2010 Constitutional Court ruling, attributing the PP's point appeal to this.
The document recalls that this Statute aimed “at the recognition of Catalonia as a nation as a solution to the limits of self-government and accumulated deficits”. Some claims to which they attribute "a profound historical path and which have taken on different forms since the New System Decrees abolished the constitutions and secular institutions of Catalonia". That is, the PSOE subscribes to a document that dates back to 1714, the fundamental nucleus of the independence mythology, and starts from the assumption that since then " a significant part of Catalan society has no longer felt identified with the political system in force in Spain".
The parties focus on expressing their “deep differences” between the parties. And although socialists have celebrated all the steps taken to date, including the pardon, they now accept that the central question remains unresolved. The parties say they are ready to "open a new phase" in which "a political and negotiated solution to the conflict will be sought". Based on the result of the polls, PSOE and Junts undertake to open negotiations to seek a series of pacts that "contribute to resolving the historical conflict on the political future of Catalonia". Agreements which, they already anticipate, "must respond to the requests of the majority of the Parliament of Catalonia".
It is based on the recognition that PSOE and Junts make of “their profound discrepancies” and are aware “of the complexity and obstacles of the process they are preparing to undertake”. On the one hand, Junts considers the result and mandate of the referendum of 1 October as legitimate, as well as the declaration of independence of 27 October 2017. On the other hand, the PSOE denies the referendum any legitimacy and validity. and statement, and maintains its rejection of any unilateral action. And it is here that both parties believe it is possible to "reach important agreements without giving up their respective positions". However, despite this they agreed to govern together.
In the end, as regards the future of Catalonia, the two parties agree mainly, or almost exclusively, on blaming the problems of three centuries of disagreements on the Partido Popular, which now remains outside the government despite having emerged victorious from the last elections. The PSOE is too in love with power to understand the damage that a government with the independentists of UNTS can do to Spain. At the same time, Junts manages to free its leadership from all criminal charges for the illegal independence referendum of 2017 and has the opportunity to continue with its propaganda. One step closer to the implosion of Spain.
Meanwhile, in Madrid, the co-founder of VOX, and former leader of the Partido Popular in Catalonia as well as former vice-president of the European Parliament, Alejo Vidal, was shot. Hit in the face, he is now very serious in hospital, while the attacker fled on a motorbike.
A coincidence that it happens on the day the Junts and PSOE reach an agreement?M Surely yes, but remember what happened after the violent death of José Calvo Sotelo .
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The article Spain: the PSOE bows to the Catalan independence activists. Amnesty and referendum in Catalonia, bullets to the co-founder of Vox comes from Scenari Economici .
This is a machine translation of a post published on Scenari Economici at the URL https://scenarieconomici.it/spagna-il-psoe-si-piega-agli-indipendentisti-catalani-amnistia-e-referendum-1/ on Thu, 09 Nov 2023 14:12:02 +0000.