The CJEU to the Spanish justice: enough is enough

Great news: the Court of Justice of the EU (CJEU) has largely endorsed the amnesty law.It found it to be in accordance with EU law, because it considered that the amnesty is not contrary to the financial interests of the European Union, nor is it contrary to the directive on terrorism (the crime for which some CDRs had been prosecuted). It goes further, emphatically: the CJEU states that the amnesty does not harm equal treatment, in the sense that it was a law only intended to favor some, but rather it was approved "in a real context of political and social reconciliation" and therefore does not constitute a "self-amnesty". With this ruling, the Court of Auditors should file its cases, and the National Court, too. And the Supreme Court, of course. But at the moment I'm speaking to you, the arrest warrant for Carles Puigdemont or the disqualification of Oriol Junqueras is still in place. And it is quite likely that they will wait until autumn to lift them, which is when the Constitutional Court will issue a ruling on the Supreme Court's refusal to apply the amnesty. To put it this way, Carles Puigdemont is one step closer to returning to Catalonia, and now it seems it is only a matter of a few months.The CJEU ruling is great news, but that the amnesty is not fully applied is a disgrace that can only be explained by the "a por ellos!". It is important to remember where we come from: the TS prosecuted the political prisoners for rebellion, a crime that should have required armed violence, it condemned for sedition, which would also have required violence, and now it refuses to apply the amnesty for embezzlement, for which there has also been none. It is a deployment of creative, patriotic justice.The president Illa made a statement in Catalan, Spanish, and English :“I appear before all of you to express my satisfaction and that of the Government of Catalonia for the ruling of the Court of Justice of the European Union. An explicit ruling, which endorses Organic Law 1/2024 on amnesty for the institutional, political, and social normalization of Catalonia. The highest instance of European justice has spoken clearly: the law complies with European law. Europe says 'yes' to amnesty, Catalonia says 'yes' to the future. The decision of the Court of Justice of the European Union is very good news for Catalonia, for Spain, and for democracy. There is no turning back. The amnesty law is part, with all its consequences, of our legal framework, and therefore, its application is mandatory.”

Meanwhile, in Waterloo, there was logical satisfaction. In Europe, Puigdemont considers that he has won everything and has created jurisprudence: they have avoided extradition because they belong to an Objectively Identifiable Group of people, they have defeated the European Parliament, which left them without immunity, and they achieved amnesty for the CDRs, because the first bill did not include terrorism by the CDRs. But in Waterloo, they remembered that now the game will no longer be played in Europe, but at the Bernabéu, with the referee bought and the public against them, so to speak.

The CJEU has said that the amnesty has served for reconciliation. Let's leave it at that, because the political conflict Catalonia-Spain cannot be closed with an amnesty. If anything, it allows the conflict to be political, not judicial. But neither the PP nor Vox want reconciliation, and the PSOE itself did not want amnesty until it had no choice but to make a deal with Junts and Esquerra if it wanted to govern. If we separate the emotional from the legal issue, it will be better understood: European justice has told the National High Court, the Court of Auditors, and the Supreme Court that enough is enough.

Good morning.