The Constitutional Court delays Puigdemont's amnesty: "It's unlikely to be resolved before Christmas."

MadridThe decision of Carles Puigdemont's defense to recuse three judges of the Constitutional Court (TC) The Constitutional Court (TC) had already predicted a delay in the timeframe for deciding on the amnesty for the former president of the Generalitat. This Thursday, the president of the Constitutional Court (TC), Cándido Conde-Pumpido, confirmed this at a luncheon with journalists. "It will be difficult for them to be resolved before Christmas," he said regarding the appeals for protection of constitutional rights by both Puigdemont and former ministers Toni Comín and Lluís Puig. Conde-Pumpido attributed this "delay" of at least a month compared to the initially planned timeframe—the TC expected to admit them for processing in early September, but will finally do so in next week's plenary session—to the court's decision to try to remove conservative judges José María Macías, Enrique Arnaldo, and Concepción Espejel.

The move by lawyer Gonzalo Boye generated confusion in the Constitutional Court which, according to its president, has sought from the outset to "speed up" the resolution of this issue because delaying it "generates a disturbance in the legal system." Thus, Conde-Pumpido claimed that they issued a ruling on the PP's appeal against the amnesty in nine months, when other controversial appeals by the PP, such as those filed against the Statute of Catalonia and against former president Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero's abortion law, took four and twelve years, respectively, to be resolved. Conde-Pumpido defended having endorsed the constitutionality of the amnesty—arguing that it would be "strange" if Spain were "the only country in the EU that couldn't approve it"—although he declined to elaborate on how the major outstanding issue will be resolved: whether embezzlement, which is what prevents it from being amnestied, can be granted.

We won't know until 2026, according to Conde-Pumpido's calculations. Furthermore, next week's plenary session, which also has Aragon's appeal against the amnesty on the table, will not delve into this issue in depth. Sources at the Constitutional Court point out that, although the autonomous community mentions this crime, the ruling that resolves it "will not make an explicit reference" to embezzlement, but rather "minimal." All appeals against the amnesty by the autonomous communities governed by the People's Party (PP), as well as the constitutional challenges filed by courts that were supposed to apply it, as well as appeals against the decision to apply it, for example, to some police officers, remain pending. Conde-Pumpido stated that in these cases there will be no surprises and everything will be resolved in accordance with the doctrine established at the end of June in the ruling that approved the law.

When will the Constitutional Court be able to definitively close the amnesty file? Conde-Pumpido has warned that there are still "many months" left for all pending issues to be definitively resolved and has not guaranteed that this will be possible before the summer of next year. The term of the President of the Constitutional Court expires at the end of December, but he will remain in office until a replacement is appointed. The lack of bridges between the PP and PSOE suggests that he will have to extend it, although Conde-Pumpido has noted that he "cannot predict" what will happen during 2026 because "it is likely" that he will step down as president of the body. Also relevant during this period is the decision of the Court of Justice of the European Union, which must rule on preliminary questions related to embezzlement. There is an initial date circled in red, in this regard, which is November 13, when the Advocate General is due to make his initial pronouncement. What it says isn't binding, but it usually guides the court's decision.

The PP's criticism

The People's Party (PP) has repeatedly attacked Conde-Pumpido, presenting him as a puppet of Pedro Sánchez. The president of the Constitutional Court defended the professionalism of the Constitutional Court: "Whoever disqualifies the Constitutional Court from a political perspective is disqualifying themselves, because we have been elected by the four branches of government," said Conde-Pumpido. He argued that "no state institution can criticize the other branches" and denied that the Constitutional Court is invading the jurisdiction of the Supreme Court by admitting appeals like Puigdemont's. "We received 6,500 appeals for constitutional protection [in 2024 alone], we granted 17, and then they accuse us of evading our powers," he lamented.