The former president of the Government José Luís Rodríguez Zapatero has shown himself in favor of an amnesty law that includes the former president of the Generalitat Carles Puigdemont and that, in his opinion, should lead to a change of attitude on the part of the pro-independence parties.
“The justification is deeper than the need to change the government,” Zapatero stated in an interview this morning with Onda Cero, and he stressed that if Sánchez negotiates the amnesty it is because “the party decides that it is compatible with its political program.” ”, and has maintained that in this case, the amnesty is compatible, not only with the party's proposals but also with Spanish democracy.
Zapatero has defended that amnesty “fits in our legal system, as does the separation of powers, only that amnesty is an institution for exceptional cases.” And in this sense, he has stressed that "October 1, 2017 was the most exceptional thing since the attempted coup d'état on February 23", and it was not the result of a small group of people, but of an absolute majority in the Parliament”.
Expressly asked by Carlos Alsina about whether the independentistas should give something in exchange for the amnesty law, Zapatero answered that the approval of the measure "should entail a change in the political context and a change in attitude" of Esquerra and Junts.
The socialist has compared the current situation with the amnesty that the president of the Second Republic, Manuel Azaña, granted the former president of the Generalitat Lluís Companys in 1936 who was convicted of rebellion for proclaiming the Catalan State with a possible amnesty for Puigdemont. At this point, Zapatero recalled the admiration that his predecessor José María Aznar professes for Azaña.
The former president has defended the current socialist leader, when asked about Sánchez's change of attitude regarding the negotiation of the amnesty law. “(Sánchez) was referring to the type of amnesty presented by the independentists,” and assured that said proposal should be “properly motivated, justified and protected” and within the law, as is possible, in the words of the socialist, “in other democracies.” counterparts to Spain.”
Zapatero has also marked the beginning of the Catalan conflict in the ruling of the Constitutional Court on the Statute of 2010, "it created a problem of sovereignty" and legitimacy, since the Statute had been approved by referendum, to which the PP itself reacted with its appeal. to the TC. The event “created political effects that must be addressed,” he maintained.
The socialist has also asked the PP for caution, since "under its government, it had two referendums and a proclamation of independence." He recalled that at that time, the government had the support of the PSOE in the opposition, which must be in charge of presenting an alternative. For this reason, he has attacked the PP because at this moment, “the right has not presented an alternative to solve the Catalan conflict, and only wants to maintain the status quo of confrontation.”
The interview has also given rise to a tug of war when Zapatero assured that he disagreed with the 2010 TC resolution on the Statute. The journalist has denied this, recalling that the former president was "happy and satisfied" with the result after hearing the sentence. The socialist has justified these statements by "prudence and restraint" but Alsina has replied that in any case, Zapatero changed his mind "after the fact, when the PSOE took over the independence crisis and pointed out that the problem was the Constitutional one." The problem was not the sentence, the problem was that you and Artur Mas agreed on a text that had signs of unconstitutionality," Alsina added, to describe what the former president has described as a "clash of legitimacies" before the socialist reiterated that the key The question lies in what that sentence entailed, and that is what explains the Catalan conflict.
