The Spaniards behind the European Commission's report to the CJEU on amnesty

BrusselsThe European Commission's report on the amnesty law that came to light this Tuesday contains a particularly harsh paragraph against the measure and Pedro Sánchez's government. It even uses vocabulary very similar to that used by the Spanish right to attack the Spanish executive and its pro-independence partners. "It seems to constitute a self-amnesty," the document concludes. According to Moncloa, this is not a mere coincidence in the use of language, and the Minister of the Presidency and Justice, Félix Bolaños, has already blamed Daniel Calleja, the Director General of Legal Services at the European Commission when the EU assessment was prepared, via social media.

Calleja is a veteran of the Brussels corridors, and his professional career at the European Commission has been closely linked to senior PP officials. He worked in the cabinet of PP European commissioners: with the Vice President of the EU executive and Minister of Energy and Transport between 1999 and 2004, Loyola de Palacio; and from 1993 and 1999 with Marcelino Oreja, who headed the portfolios of International Relations and Energy and Transport. "A former chief of staff to two PP commissioners has managed to introduce his arguments into the document," Bolaños asserts in the tweet.

The Justice Minister's accusations do not end there. Bolaños also suggests that the European Commission removed Calleja from the head of the EU's Legal Services due to issues related to his influence on the report. In fact, Calleja was appointed head of the European Commission in Madrid last May, a few months after the EU executive submitted the report to the Luxembourg court in December 2024.

Beyond Calleja, another Spaniard is also involved in the preparation of the report: Carlos Urraca, who works in the European Commission's legal and financial services. In this case, there is no record of his close ties to any political family. The other name signing the text is Céline Valero, who is a civil servant in the same ministry.

Despite Bolaños' accusations, the European Commission has avoided answering questions from the newspaper ARA about the extent to which the Director General of Legal Services can influence the reports issued by his ministry. It also refuses to clarify who selects the authors of these evaluations and how, and how a Spaniard was chosen to study a case about Spain that is so politically sensitive.