Puigdemont's cat sneaks into the Real Casino de Madrid

MadridThere is a lot of anticipation at 15 Alcalá Street in Madrid. It is not because of the housing rights protest camp at Puerta del Sol, which is just a few meters away, but because the president of the Constitutional Court (TC), Cándido Conde-Pumpido, is speaking there, just the week before the TC is set to issue the first ruling in favor of granting protection and, therefore, amnesty to the leaders of the 'Procés'. He is participating in an informative breakfast organized by Nueva Economía Fórum, which has drawn a lot of media attention, but there are few political authorities in the room. Only three magistrates from the Constitutional Court—the vice president, Inmaculada Montalbán; Ramón Sáez Valcárcel, and the former Minister of Justice Juan Carlos Campo, all three considered part of the progressive bloc—and the delegate of the Spanish government in Madrid, Francisco Martín, who is a regular at these types of meetings.

Obviously, the top local or regional officials from Madrid, who are from the PP, are not there, but neither are those from the Spanish executive branch. Only two former PSOE ministers, Dolores Delgado—former Attorney General of the State—and Ángel Gabilondo, who, moreover, in terms of protocol, was made to sit behind the secretary general of the UGT, Pepe Álvarez, and the president of Foment del Treball, Josep Sánchez Llibre. The leader of the employers' association, who moves like a fish in water in Madrid, avoids questions from journalists when they informally ask him at the entrance what he thinks Junts will do. Carles Puigdemont's party must make a statement on the two housing decree laws this Friday at the Congress of Deputies and they are maintaining uncertainty regarding the direction of their vote.

The return of the former president of the Generalitat is the elephant in the room while Conde-Pumpido gives his opening statement, in which he tiptoes around the decision he must make imminently regarding the amnesty for the leaders of the 'Procés' on Tuesday, October 6th. However, he does defend that the Constitutional Court (TC) has always been the "guarantor of freedoms" in Spain, putting the 23-F coup d'état, ETA, and the 'Procés' in the same bag.

It is when the journalists' questions arrive that he gets into the subject. For example, he justifies being very explicit when endorsing the amparo appeal of former minister Dolors Bassa, for which he is the rapporteur, so that the decision derived from the Supreme Court is to apply the amnesty. That is to say, he explicitly states openly that he does not want to leave any room for maneuver for the investigating magistrate, Pablo Llarena, and the criminal chamber of the Supreme Court to disobey his ruling. In fact, from the Supreme Court, they have also informally challenged them to do so.

The background screen

While all this is happening, at several tables (there are about twenty in the room) a background murmur can be heard. At this reporter's table, where there is a group of veteran court columnists, they shift in their chairs when Conde-Pumpido justifies the TC's ability to question the interpretations that the Supreme Court makes of ordinary legislation —such as, for example, the crime of embezzlement— when there is an impact on fundamental rights. A very controversial issue, already traditional in the legal world, and which has skyrocketed in the case of the amnesty.

The most curious thing about the colloquium, however, is to look at the screen in the room, which accompanies the breakfast's highlights with archive footage. The organization decided that stock videos of meetings of the Constitutional Court's chamber should be shown, but not only that: during Conde-Pumpido's speech, former president Carles Puigdemont appears giving speeches, and even the legendary meeting that the former president held in Brussels with Santos Cerdán, the already ousted former number three of the PSOE, for the negotiation of Pedro Sánchez's investiture. At one point, you can even see Puigdemont combing his cat at the House of the Republic, images captured in Waterloo by ACN journalist Nico Tomás just after the fleeting return to Barcelona on August 9, 2024.

The iconography was curious, especially considering who was speaking on the podium, the president of the Constitutional Court, and what he was defending: the decision to constitutionally endorse the amnesty for the 'Procés'. All this, on the day that marks nine years since the October 1st referendum.