Next chapter? Procrastination
There are strong, heavy, labyrinthine, relentless states. There are also failed ones. In the case of Spain, I leave the qualifying adjective to you, but the fact is that we would not be talking about either decisive or pragmatic. Perhaps the majority of our society is not either? That is a topic for another day.
In this political and legal magma in which we are immersed as citizens, the judgment of the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) has arrived. And it has been clear. No half-measures, no obtuse language. The Luxembourg court has clearly endorsed the European compatibility of the amnesty law.
And now what? Well, now comes a new chapter of procrastination.
The summary of the week is that the Luxembourg court considers the amnesty law compatible with the EU framework, but the decision will not resolve all resistances or all consequences of its application in Spain.
The ruling on the amnesty law closes an essential part of the legal discussion, but does not yet guarantee the political or institutional outcome. The Luxembourg judges confirm that the amnesty law is compatible with Union law and that it does not violate financial interests or the fight against terrorism, it recognizes the reconciling political purpose and refutes a large part of the objections that the political, media, and judicial right has fueled for months.
But one thing is the legality of the law and another is its effective application. We know from experience that some courts have used preliminary questions, appeals, and forced interpretations not so much to clarify the law as to delay its effects.
The doubt is especially evident in the interpretation of embezzlement. The Supreme Court has constructed a creative reading that has allowed some of the main leaders of the Process to be kept out of the amnesty, even though the legislator's intention was precisely to include them. This interpretation maintains Oriol Junqueras, Raül Romeva, Jordi Turull, and Dolors Bassa disqualified, and prevents the normalized return of Carles Puigdemont, Toni Comín, and Lluís Puig.
The Luxembourg ruling now forces the Spanish courts to decide whether to accept the spirit of the law democratically approved by a parliamentary majority or if they continue to look for loopholes to empty it of content and extend deadlines that suspend the return of the leaders of the Process to the exercise of all their rights.
Perhaps the legal battle is won, but resistance to applying it is guaranteed.
Europe has endorsed a law designed to de-judicialize the conflict, but its application remains trapped within the same judicial logic it was meant to overcome. Luxembourg has made it clear that amnesty is possible. Now we need to see if the right and the far-right are willing to allow it to be effective.
Today the issue is no longer just legal. It is institutional. Spain has for years delegated to the courts a part of the management of the Catalan conflict, and when justice assumes political functions, it ceases to be perceived as a neutral arbiter and becomes part of the trench. This is the most worrying issue, because it is directly related to a progressive deterioration of the democratic system.
Judge Marchena will find the return from vacation difficult. Puigdemont's lawyer, Gonzalo Boye, believes that to avoid making an “inter pares ridicule” with European jurists, the law will end up being applied. But if we talk about feelings, I wonder if the desire not to make a fool of oneself will weigh more than the feeling of humiliation that could end up imposing the classic saying of “sostenella y no enmendalla”. The war between the Constitutional Court and the Supreme Court seems to be the new chapter for amnesty, which at its core is the war over the lack of a political solution for Catalonia's integration into Spain. The eternal return, now to the courts, and without an end in the near horizon.
Meanwhile, the territorialized execution of the State's public investment in Catalonia was 8.6% last year, less than half of Catalan GDP. In Madrid it was double that of Catalonia. This is bad economic and political news. The Spanish socialist government maintains its contempt for one of the State's main economies, with the most comfortable government it could have in Catalonia and the only pillar it has left. Rowing hard in favor of Aliança Catalana.
