Until now, the acting president of the Government, Pedro Sanchez, has only used the word ‘amnesty’ on one occasion. He did so from Granada on October 6 to defend that a possible amnesty would help overcome the judicial consequences of the ‘procés’. He also took the opportunity to distance himself from the proposal that Sumar plans to present this Tuesday in Barcelona – creating more noise, in something that concerns the candidate for re-election – without specifying what it consists of and without establishing the reasons for his disagreement. Until then, Sánchez had only indirectly referred to a possible measure of this type, defending the need for dialogue and coexistence. The president’s strategy, as well as that of the opposition giving its support to a demonstration in Barcelona against a initiative that is not yet known, have caused uneasiness in public opinion that has the right to know what we are talking about when we mention the amnesty, whether to defend it or to criticize it. Without magnifying it or considering it a homogeneous feeling, the Sunday march, called by Catalan Civil Society (SCC), is an element to take into account in how a part of the population faces a hypothetical amnesty. Even if he had another name – something that cannot be ruled out, due to the secrecy with which the candidate for re-election acts -, A proposal of this magnitude requires transparency.
The confusion is accentuated by the fact that, until recently, Sánchez himself was against the measure, so could lead to the idea, if not explained, that it is a purely circumstantial offer derived from the need that the PSOE to count on the votes of Together for Catalonia. Among the things that the socialist leader reiterated in Granada, we must highlight his conviction that, whatever form the proposal takes, it will be constitutional. This could bring peace of mind if it weren’t for the fact that constitutional experts are deeply divided about the possibility that an amnesty could be. And it is not just a matter of form, but rather not warning that a proposal that was subsequently annulled by the Constitutional Court would be of no use. This has happened too many times in relation to everything related to Catalonia to take this risk again.
Consequently, Sánchez must explain himself as soon as possible and the opposition must act with restraint while we do not know what we are talking about, without anticipating events in an issue that raises logical social concern. This was seen in Sunday’s demonstration in Barcelona, where the banners and slogans were based on a ‘totum revolutum’ that mixed amnesty and referendum – a possibility that Sánchez has denied -, and that presented the PSOE proposal that we still do not know as a humiliation of the State and its public servants and as a victory for Carles Puigdemont and those who called the illegal referendum on October 1. The amnesty, or whatever the definitive formula will be called, cannot be this. If it takes the form of a law, which seems inevitable, it must have a preamble that clearly explains how we got here. The preamble must remember that in Catalonia the Constitution and Statute were violated but you must also explain that You cannot resolve an issue that has political roots without a political response and with manifest judicial overaction.