The amnesty designed to measure the fugitive Carles Puigdemont will not only allow him to return immediately to Spain but will also open the door to being president of the Generalitat again even if the Supreme Court does not apply the Law within a period of two months because you first decide to appeal to the Court of Justice of the European Union or the Constitutional Court.

According to legal sources informing EL MUNDO, the instructor of the process Pablo Llarena plans to annul the national search and arrest order against Puigdemont once the proposal of the Organic Law of Amnesty for institutional, political and social normalization in Catalonia go into effect. Furthermore, the PSOE and Junts have tried to shield this action of the magistrate in the amendment process by introducing a section where it is established that “the judicial body that is hearing the case will proceed to annul the search and capture and entry orders.” in prison of the people to whom this amnesty applies.

Thus, Puigdemont will be able to return to Spain, a country that he left in the fall of 2017 after unilaterally declaring the independence of Catalonia.. During his journey through Europe as a fugitive from Spanish Justice, the leader of Junts has been able to run in the Catalan elections but has not been able to be sworn in as president of the Generalitat because he needed to attend the Plenary Session of the Parliament in person.

In 2018, the fugitive presented himself as a parliamentary candidate to preside over the Generalitat and attempted to take office electronically but the Constitutional Court prevented him from doing so.. The body of constitutional guarantees ruled that “the candidate for president of the Generalitat must appear personally before the Chamber”. The TC maintained that neither the Constitution nor the Statute of Autonomy of Catalonia “expressly establishes” that the candidate for the presidency of the Government must appear in person before the Chamber in order to hold the investiture session but added that “this requirement, however , is implicit in these norms”, given the parliamentary nature of this procedure and the very configuration of the investiture. In the resolution, the Constitutional Court assured that “the intervention of the candidate in the investiture session is an essential element so that the Chamber can correctly form its will.”. “Therefore, it is not possible for another deputy to replace him or act on his behalf in this procedure,” thus closing the door to a telematic investiture.

However, once back in Spain, Puigdemont will have no impediment to run in the next Catalan elections and be sworn in as president if he wins.

Application of the law

In the proposed Amnesty Law, both the PSOE, Junts and ERC have tried to reduce the margin of interpretation of the judges on the norm. However, different legal sources consulted doubt that the new wording on terrorist crimes will serve to pass the filter of European justice.

Currently, the Supreme Court – the jurisdictional body that will have to apply the amnesty to the former members of the Generalitat of Catalonia – can go both to the CJEU (if it considers that the Law contravenes Union law) and to the Constitutional Court, if appreciates views contrary to the Magna Carta. If the TS decides to go to Europe first, the TC will have to wait for the European ruling before resolving the unconstitutionality issues that fall on its table.

While he is still passing the towel over his forehead to dry the sweat caused by the intense struggle to carry out the Amnesty Law, the Government is already warming up its muscles to face another intense session, with a frenetic pace: the Budgets. The Treasury has already contacted the political groups that support the Government, as Government and parliamentary sources confirm to EL MUNDO, in contacts that seek to see their disposition and demands but, above all, ensure that none of their allies will present an amendment to the all of the Public Accounts that puts them in danger.

The communication and contact channels have already been in place for “several weeks”, according to sources from the nationalist parties.. “At this time we continue talking and exchanging proposals, but as of today we have not yet reached an agreement to support the PGE,” they point out from Bildu.. “There have been contacts,” they say from ERC. The Executive also confirms that they have initiated “contacts” with Junts for other milestones such as the Budget law. The Government seeks to provide normality to Junts, to convey the message that it is integrated as another party in supporting the governance of the country, a leg on which the Executive relies. “Normality in relations with Junts as there is with other groups,” they summarize.

“It would not be logical for us to support the investiture and then not open the door for the Government to have Budgets to deploy social and economic policies,” is the message sent by the Executive's partners.

In La Moncloa they consider that despite how complex the current legislature is, since everything is overshadowed by the amnesty, the Budgets are a vital pike in their stability and for their prospects that the legislature will not be short.. Faced with the vision of some partners such as the PNV, ERC or Junts, who have already warned that the mandate may not be long, the approval of the Public Accounts would guarantee the Executive to reach at least until 2026, since in 2025 it could extend the numbers that now approve. That would be having half of the mandate guaranteed and surpassing in power the rubicon of the Catalan elections – formally scheduled for early 2025 -, another Tourmalet in the legislature.

Hence, in parallel to the negotiations to seal the amnesty, the Government has opened the dialogue for the Budgets. The scenario that is being considered and wanted in the Executive is to approve the accounts before the amnesty. Because the socialists consider that as long as the pardon for those involved in the process is being processed but has not been approved, there are more options to tie and attract Junts. With the rule already approved and in force, there is uncertainty about what attitude and what decisions Carles Puigdemont will take.

Parallel calendars

The race for two of the great regulations that will mark the legislature is launched. The amnesty will be approved by Congress expectedly next week and from there it will go to the Senate, where the PP has an absolute majority and can delay the processing of the norm for up to two months.. It must then return to Congress for final approval, which could be during the month of April.

The Budget calendar, for its part, is almost parallel in time.. A little more advanced perhaps, enough to try to guarantee its approval before the amnesty and thus have the support of Junts. Treasury sources confirm that the Government's intention is to take the deficit path to the Senate in the first days of February, when the first veto by the Popular Party will most likely occur.

As soon as possible, even in the first Council of Ministers to be held after this veto, the Government will approve another path. Another, because it will be a second but the deficit figures contemplated will be the same. There the process must be repeated: Congress approves them and the PP once again uses its absolute majority in the Upper House. And at that moment, the Ministry will present an opinion from the State's legal profession, and according to which the Budgets must be formulated with the deficit senate reflected in the Stability Program that the Executive sent to Brussels last week.. That is, the communities will have a deficit one tenth more restrictive.

But the important thing, from the Treasury's point of view, is that they will already have accounts in place that, if everything goes as planned, will reach Congress at the end of February or beginning of March.. Once presented, the times may vary but if what happened last year is taken into account, that period of time would not be more than a month and a half.. That is, they would be in force shortly after the arrival of spring.

Government attrition

The negotiation of the Amnesty Law has already entailed significant wear and tear with the Government, with the image of negotiations until the last minute where the Catalan independentists display achievements and returns every time something has to be voted on, be it the amnesty itself or, for example , decrees approved by the Council of Ministers. Nothing suggests that the Budget negotiation is going to be different. Quite the opposite, perhaps even more fierce. Social advances and territorial allocations are already some of the demands that the nationalists have raised.

In the Government they deny feeling prisoners of “blackmail”. They explain that they knew from the beginning the difficulty of the legislature and that the only way is dialogue to try to reach agreements. “Dialogue can never mean blackmail. Reaching important agreements means giving up top positions. An agreement, dialogue, can never be interpreted as blackmail or humiliation,” defended María Jesús Montero, first vice president of the Government and Minister of Finance.

Pablo Iglesias has kicked Juan Carlos Monedero off his television and canceled his program two weeks after giving an interview in EL MUNDO in which, in connection with the tenth anniversary of Podemos, the co-founder of the purple party criticized the drift of Canal Red for acting as a “party organ” and for, among other things, “turning into a suspect” anyone who does not share “100%” of their speech. “Canal Red has to be de-podemized and Podemos has to be de-channelized,” he reflected.

Iglesias' retaliation against Monedero comes two days after the former general secretary of Podemos purged Sergio Gregori, who was one of the star presenters at the launch of the channel and who had been removed from the front line for some time for expressing opinions. prone to understanding between Podemos and Sumar.

Thus, after the divergent opinions expressed in recent times by Monedero and Gregori, Iglesias has acted relentlessly against them and has struck down both of their programs on Canal Red.. The first leaves television and the second still remains on it but away from other internal tasks.

The departure of Monedero has been communicated by the affected person himself on the social network. “Those responsible for the channel want to reinforce their ideological line and it is evident that my disobedient Lennon glasses blur that objective,” he said.

Monedero explained that he had had a recent conversation with Iglesias and that in it they had addressed, among other issues, their “disagreements.”. That they are not limited only to the drift of Canal Red, but also to the lack of unity on the left, where he distributes blame, as he pointed out in the interview, to the leaders of Sumar and Podemos for not even talking.

“No one can deny the siege of Podemos and Canal Red's will to close ranks in the face of the siege is evident.. I don't think it's the most effective, but I understand. The field of struggle is vast, I remain convinced of unity – without naivety – and we will meet, like the rebels, on one of the paths. The enemies are in other places,” he said now in his comment on social networks.

“Today, and beyond disagreements, I want to give priority to friendship with someone whom I have known since his student days, whom I admire and whom I love.. Friendship, like kindness and generosity, has these things. Que tinguem sort, which Lluís Llach sang.”

In his public reflection, Monedero lamented “those who confuse generosity with weakness or lack of enlightenment.”. “The fight for a more decent world must be marked, precisely, by generosity. Those of us who have fought, in addition to Europe and Latin America, are clear about it,” he said.. “My statements – far from the ambitions that have bothered me so much from some with whom we started this fight – have had to do with tactics or strategy, not with personal plans.. Not taking advantage gives away this privilege. And whoever does not dare to disagree should dedicate themselves to something else,” he said.

These assessments affect the differences that it maintains with the strategy imposed by Iglesias on Podemos television, where the sets have become the trench from which to shoot against Yolanda Díaz, Sumar and other left-wing parties such as Más Madrid, Compromís or common.

In his interview in this newspaper, Monedero asked Canal Red to do a “deep reflection”, to have an “assembly”. “It is a very powerful organ and that is not good for either Canal Red or Podemos.”. It is not good for Canal Red because it greatly limits its influence and it is not good for Podemos because it has not completely freed itself from that forceful opinion of the convinced that Canal Red always expresses,” he said.

And he recalled “a reflection that Iglesias always made”: “A guy like Jiménez Losantos speaks to the right, he does not speak to the PP, he speaks to the right”. “Of course,” he delved into the thread of this, “your reach is greater.”. “I think Canal Red has to de-podemize itself. And Podemos has to dechannel,” he stated.

Once Monedero's message was published in