Puigdemont considers nine years of repression finished: "We will return to the service of our country"

Waterloo / BarcelonaThe former president of the Generalitat Carles Puigdemont has declared the stage of "political repression" that began more than nine years ago to be over because the Catalans voted "for the independence of our country". The Constitutional Court's decision to apply the amnesty to the pro-independence leaders, he asserts, represents a defeat for the various Spanish public powers that have put obstacles in the way of the implementation of the amnesty "for strictly political reasons". The institutional appearance of the former head of the Government took place this afternoon, a few hours after the Supreme Court announced the lifting of his arrest warrant, which represents the first definitive step for him to return from exile to Catalonia. The leader of Junts has claimed the "enormous political importance" of the law, which disauthorizes repression and makes it clear that "this was not the path". However, he has warned that the political conflict with the State remains in force: "Today nothing is solved [...]. The amnesty is not in itself a solution", he claimed in an appearance from Waterloo.

Puigdemont has avoided answering the big question of how and when he plans to return. But his lawyer, Gonzalo Boye, did advance this morning that the former president will wait for the case against him to be archived, a process that could take a few weeks. The Junts member has highlighted the strategy of exile, which he has followed together with former ministers Lluís Puig and Toni Comín in Italy, Germany, and Belgium, and which has consisted of defending Catalan institutions against any attempt to subject them to the "repressive Spanish whim". Exile, he said, has had good political results but also effects on their personal lives and their political projects. Thus, Puigdemont has claimed the sense of country in his return: "We will return, not at the service of our party, but at the service of our country".

The lifting of the arrest warrant comes the day after the electoral call in the Spanish state. With this pretext, Pedro Sánchez has ruled out a meeting with Puigdemont, the major pending meeting for the socialist leader. It must be remembered that in 2023 it was the then-organization secretary of the PSOE, Santos Cerdán, who traveled to Waterloo to negotiate his investiture with the leader of Junts. "We are in electoral times," the Spanish president justified in a press conference. However, Sánchez did celebrate the Constitutional Court's endorsement of the amnesty: "It was a political problem that we had to resolve through politics." Furthermore, he recalled that his government also promoted the pardons with "coexistence among Catalans" and the "cohesion of Spain" in mind. "I respect the resolution of the Constitutional Court and I celebrate that with this we also help Catalan society to look forward, learn from mistakes, and continue moving forward," he summarized, reports Núria Orriols Guiu.

Junqueras also celebrates the amnesty

The Constitutional Court's decision this Tuesday was transcendental for the return of Puigdemont, but also so that Oriol Junqueras can run in an election. That is to say, to allow the return of the exiles and to lift the disqualification that still weighs on the ERC leader, but also on former ministers Jordi Turull, Dolors Bassa, and Raül Romeva, to whom the amnesty law had not been applied for the crime of embezzlement. "Carles Puigdemont must be able to return. Oriol Junqueras must be able to run in an election. All repressed persons must recover all their rights," Junqueras defended in a statement from the party headquarters. In this sense, Junqueras celebrated the Constitutional Court's endorsement of the amnesty law, but also warned that this does not mean that the political conflict has "disappeared".

"The amnesty is not the end of the political conflict between Catalonia and the State," he stated. In this sense, Junqueras defended taking advantage of the opportunity to leave behind the judicialization of the conflict to return it to the field of politics. "We have reached this point because we have engaged in politics. And now we must do more of it." Junqueras' goal is to run as the ERC candidate for the presidency of the Generalitat in the next Catalan elections. Therefore, the next step that the Supreme Court must take to definitively lift his disqualification is key. Esquerra trusts that it will be in the coming weeks when judge Manuel Marchena applies the Constitutional Court's ruling.

The ERC leader used his statement to vindicate ERC's negotiation strategy of recent years, especially when defending the "de-judicialization of the political conflict," which was criticized as a renunciation of the spirit of October 1st. In this sense, he thanked the work done by the party to negotiate with the Spanish state when he could not, and directly cited the work of the former ERC secretary general Marta Rovira –with whom he has not had a relationship for some time following the party's crisis two years ago– and also of the former deputy secretary Marta Vilaret; of the current president of ERC in Parliament, Josep Maria Jové; of the Congress deputy Pilar Vallugera, and of the senator Joan Queralt.

"It is a great victory for the independence movement"

The secretary general of Junts, Jordi Turull, had already celebrated the Constitutional Court's decision this noon and stressed that he even had to "control his emotions": "We are very happy," he stated in a press conference. For this reason, he commented that "it is a great victory for the independence movement" and ratified that the resolution of the conflict is only self-determination. For his part, the president of the Parliament, Josep Rull, celebrated the endorsement of the amnesty as a "resounding victory" and said that there must be a "feeling of gratitude" towards Puigdemont "for having preserved" the presidency of the Generalitat by avoiding prison, he said from Catalunya Ràdio.

In turn, the CUP has called to "put the goal of independence back at the center," while Òmnium has urged the Supreme Court to apply the amnesty "without further delays" to "definitively close the cycle of repression." The Comuns also celebrated the decision, although the former mayor of Barcelona, Ada Colau, quipped: "Carles Puigdemont will have problems walking through Catalonia," in reference to the 'no' from the Junts members to the two housing decrees, she said on RTVE.