The municipal groups of Trias per Barcelona and ERC will bring to the plenary session of Barcelona City Council next Friday a proposal or institutional declaration for the City Council of the Catalan capital to support the processing of an Amnesty law in the Spanish Cortes.
Xavier Trias and Ernest Maragall have jointly presented this initiative on the same day that the general policy debate began in Parliament and in Madrid the investiture session of Albert Núñez Feijóo. The proposal of the two pro-independence parties puts pressure on the mayor of Barcelona, the socialist Jaume Collboni, whom the promoters of the declaration hope will at least abstain in Friday's vote.
The amnesty law, according to Trias and Maragall, should refer to “the facts, actions and omissions of political intention linked to the exercise of the right of self-determination of Catalonia, classified as criminal or administrative infractions, that have taken place since January 1 from 2013 until the entry into force of the law.”
In the explanatory statement, Junts and ERC point out the need for amnesty as a “solution to put an end to all the political and judicial repression of the last 10 years.” The signatories of the proposal consider the amnesty as “the best way to dejudicialize and resolve the conflict” and warn that “in a democratic society, the free exercise of political rights should not be answered by judicial means.”
The proposal demands the return of the “legitimate and necessary democratic debate to the political channel, guaranteeing the non-repetition of judicial actions that want to persecute or deny it.”
The response from the PSC has not been long in coming and has registered another proposal for an institutional declaration that the socialists hope to reach a consensus in the coming days with the one presented by the independentists. The motion presented by the first deputy mayor, Laia Bonet, proposes that the City Council support “the political action based on the dialogue of the Spanish Government” and proposes that the progress that has been made in “promoting coexistence” be continued.
The PSC initiative does not refer to an Amnesty law and points out that "public powers must always submit to the rule of law and respect the institutional framework in any case." Likewise, it includes a jab at the PP, which it accuses of trying to “install in Spanish and Catalan society for partisan interests” the “strategy of confusion and division.”
