Spain Puigdemont reinforces his 'no' to Sánchez's key decree for fear of "state revenge" with the new rule

Junts per Catalunya accuses the Government of Pedro Sánchez of laying the foundations in its new first major decree to carry out “state revenge” if the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) protected some of its leaders or collaborators. The formation of Carles Puigdemont bases his opposition and his future vote against the omnibus decree, the first large package of measures pending validation in Congress on Wednesday and on which the disbursement of 10,000 million European funds depends, in another of the articles of the package of measures for the digitalization of Justice. In his opinion, as EL MUNDO has learned, these initiatives hide the possibility of the State intervening by opposing the review of a final judicial ruling in the event that Europe considers that the Government Spanish violated the rights of the secessionists, a horizon to which the independence movement has relied its success since before the 1-O ruling. Hence the importance that Junts gives it, which, according to Turull yesterday in an interview in ElNacional, “right now” they are “in a ‘no’ like a house to the decree.” The neoconvergent party focuses on the third section of article 954 of the new judicial medicine package, which establishes that “a review of a final judicial resolution may be requested when the ECtHR has declared that said resolution was issued in violation of any of the rights recognized in the European Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms”. This possibility is possible “provided that the violation, due to its nature and severity, entails effects that persist and cannot cease in any other way than through this review.” Now, the issue that has provoked the ire of the pro-independence supporters is that, In his opinion, the decree includes that the lawyer of the Administration of Justice will inform the State Attorney’s Office of the presentation of a possible request for review. In such a way that, always according to the criteria of Puigdemont’s team, the State may intervene through the State Attorney’s Office without having the status of a party. Which constitutes an “immeasurable perversion of the norm” that “opens the way for state revenge.” “If you win before the ECHR, the defeated, technically speaking, is the State Attorney’s Office, which is now given the possibility to take revenge by opposing the execution of a sentence from which she has been convicted,” argues the internal analysis carried out by the party led by Puigdemont. He adds that, in this way, the virtuality and practical effects of the vast majority of rulings of the ECtHR are suddenly denied. The text that is the subject of disagreement, approved by the Council of Ministers on December 20, contains 129 articles with measures urgent for the execution of the so-called ‘Recovery, Transformation and Resilience Plan in matters of public service of justice, public function, local regime and patronage’. For the Sánchez Government, this document will bring about the greatest “advance in digital transformation in the history of Justice.” At the same time, it is essential for Spain to be able to request the fourth EU aid package worth 10,000 million euros.” As this newspaper has learned, only the aforementioned section justifies, in the opinion of Junts, the opposition to the decree of Sánchez. However, and as this newspaper revealed, the anger of the secessionists is also provoked because they consider that the decree of digitalization of Justice entails, as it is written, will cause the Ministry of the Presidency of Félix Bolaños to monopolize “total control” over the information on the judicial processes underway in Spain. Which represents, for Junts, a latent threat that they did not have before this measure. The study carried out by Puigdemont is very critical, and thus has transferred it to the Sánchez Government in the person of Bolaños himself, with other articles of the decree that will create a “judicial Big Brother” directed by the strong man of the President of the Government. He argues that the Executive will have data on summary in progress to which until now it did not have access and is especially contrary to article 12, which contemplates the creation of a “General Access Point of the Administration of Justice that will be managed by the Ministry of the Presidency, Justice and Relations with Cuts”. For Puigdemont and his followers, this will mean that the Government will have comprehensive and indiscriminate access to information on the causes in which all of its coreligionists are involved. Junts warned Sánchez that if this wording was not modified, His vote would be against this week and, in view of the fact that his claims have not been met, he does not intend to modify his position. “When we say no, it means no,” they add from the pro-independence ranks.