This Wednesday, the European Commission formally asked the Government of Spain for explanations about the amnesty law. Until now, the position in Brussels had been to wait for at least a definitive text before making a statement, but the commissioners’ phone does not stop ringing and after seeing how the General Council of the Judiciary issued an opinion on the matter, this Same week, the Commissioner for Justice, Didier Reynders, has decided to make a move.
In a letter sent to ministers Félix Bolaños and Pilar Llop, the Belgian politician, who since assuming the portfolio has insisted time and again that the renewal of the CGPJ was a priority for the Commission, once again regrets the lack of progress on this issue and urges the Government to do everything possible, after the elections, to unblock something that in recent years has been the black spot in reports on the Rule of Law in Spain. But then he gets into the hottest topic in Spanish politics, and not by chance while Santos Cerdán and his team negotiate with Carles Puigdemont and Junts a few hundred meters away.
In addition to the pending issues, says the letter to which EL MUNDO has had access, “serious concerns are now added in relation to the ongoing debates on the possible approval of an amnesty law. Although at the moment there is no proposal formal, has become an issue of considerable importance in the public debate and the Commission has received many queries about it, including from a large number of citizens,” states the text, the first official request on the matter. “I would therefore be grateful if you could provide me with more detailed information, in particular on the personal, material and temporal scope of this planned law.”
In Moncloa they took note immediately. Regarding the CGPJ, they urged Reynders to write to the PP and attached a list of what they consider to be Feijóo’s “28 excuses” to prevent the renewal. And regarding the amnesty, in the letter signed by Félix Bolaños, they postpone the information until the bill is presented in Parliament. They also point out that he addresses the Government when “it is in office” and “according to the Constitution” it cannot send bills. At this time, the Ministry of the Presidency responds, it is a matter that would depend on the parliamentary groups and the Cortes. “If a bill is registered, rest assured that we will explain it to you (…) with all the details (…) as well as the Government’s position,” they conclude in a note where they reproach Reynders for having known your request through the media. In the PSOE, furthermore, they see it as a maneuver by a conservative politician and understand that it will not prevent the pact.
Reynders’ letter is not a censure, it does not prejudge an opinion, but it is a very clear warning. The Commission is aware that if the legal text of the amnesty is solid, and leaves out community funds, the Commission’s margin of action is or will be very limited. But in this phase they have a basis to ask the situation and apply pressure, as they have done on many other occasions.
The Government and especially the PSOE have taken note immediately and they did not like it at all. Socialist sources believe that it is a political maneuver by a conservative politician and does not worry at all nor will it affect the negotiations. These sources indicate that if there is still no agreement with Junts it is because Judge García Castellón’s movement has led Puigdemont to request a review of the text, and that is why the exchanges of roles are still continuing. They are sure that there will be an agreement before the weekend, which would open the door to an investiture next year. And there will be no complaints from Brussels later, as it is, they say, a Constitutional law.
Community sources affirm that it is not an unusual movement. He explains that the usual thing is to wait for a text, but it is not an assessment but only a request for information, “something completely justified when a significant part of the opposition considers that the processing of a law can have serious consequences. What The commissioner wants to know what is on the weight to know what to do next or if it can wait,” they say. Parliamentary sources, agreeing with part of this analysis, admit however that at that level “everything is politics” and that it is not “an empty message, but rather it has its intention, and is completely logical.”
Bolaños in particular, but a good part of the Executive, have had many frictions with Commissioner Reynders, whom they consider a right-wing politician, too close to the PP despite the fact that he is from the liberal family and that when Puigdemont and his former advisors arrived In Belgium he was part of the Government of Charles Michel, which was anything but collaborative with the Government of Mariano Rajoy on this issue.
“The Commission remains committed to monitoring and defending the fundamental values ??of the Union in all Member States and will continue to work with the Spanish authorities to guarantee respect for the rule of law,” says the last paragraph of the letter. A wording that could pass as perfectly standard, but in such a specific context, with such a clear intention, it is not.
The Commission has received hundreds of messages in recent months, from political parties and especially from its European family, from a good part of the Spanish MEPs, civil associations, pressure groups and also from prosecutors and magistrates. Reynders was reluctant to open the melon and the message he conveyed in some of the meetings was that they preferred to wait for a definitive text and that he would need a clear message from the judiciary. The message, somehow, has arrived. That is why the tone of the message is dry, insisting both on “the need to prioritize the situation of the Judiciary Council and address it without delay” and on the fact that Spain is ignoring the urgency of the matter.
That is precisely the criticism that is systematically made by the PSOE and the Government, since they consider that the commissioner has bought the PP version and is not being sufficiently critical of them, whom Pedro Sánchez holds responsible again and again for failing to comply with the Constitution. for five years.
Brussels wants to know what the Government is negotiating, what type of amnesty law, what scope it has, both in terms of specific people and the type of crimes. Member States have a very wide margin of action, hence the caution before making value judgments on initiatives that are yet to be defined. But the Commission does have powers and responsibilities, under the heading of the Rule of Law, to ensure the proper use of community funds.
There has been no formal position on the rebellion reforms or on the embezzlement reform, despite the fact that Reynders himself and Vice President Vera Jourova have promised an evaluation, to see how something like this, a reduction in sentences, can affect the use of community funds. Especially when the Commission itself has very recently presented a legislative proposal in the absolutely opposite direction, which calls for much harsher penalties for the misuse of public money.
The letter, by pure chance, was made public while a small group of protesters went to the door of the hotel where Cerdán and his team are staying with a banner denouncing that “Sánchez protects the corrupt and terrorists. Unity cannot be achieved.” vote”.
