The reform of the crime of sedition and the crime of insulting the Crown is not on the Spanish government's agenda for 2022. This has been confirmed by the Minister of the Presidency, Félix Bolaños, in the presentation of the regulatory plan for the year approved this Tuesday by the Council of Ministers and which includes up to 368 regulatory proposals. In fact, in the absence of knowing the details of the plan, the Spanish government does not foresee any initiative specifically aimed at tackling the Catalan issue. In fact, it is still reluctant to set a date for the next round of dialogue with the Generalitat.

Carles Puigdemont will only have the possibility of being pardoned if he returns to Spain and is judged. This has been assured by the Minister of Justice, Juan Carlos Campo, who has stated that the Spanish government "does not consider in any case" an early pardon of the Catalan ex -President exiled in Belgium. Campo has admitted that this formula is possible, despite the fact that essentially the pardon requires that there is a firm conviction. There is, however, an exception.

The Legal Affairs Committee of the Council of Europe, an international body linked to the European Court of Human Rights that monitors compliance with human rights and democracy, has called for the pardon or release of Catalan political prisoners and the withdrawal of extradition proceedings against exiles. This is stated in the draft report prepared by the Latvian socialist deputy Boriss Cilevics, who has travelled to Madrid and Barcelona to prepare the report titled Should politicians be prosecuted for statements made in the exercise of their mandate? and which analyses the cases of Spain and Turkey.

Pedro Sánchez arrived at the Moncloa with a promise to "de-judicialise" Catalan politics as a first step to resolving the conflict. "We have to leave behind the judicialisation. We need to restart", he said in his investiture speech on January 4 last year. A message addressed to the pro-independence movement in which there were those who read between the lines his commitment to free the nine political prisoners, who at this point have been behind bars for more than three years. Even so, more than a year after the PSOE and Unidas Podemos reached the government, all the paths to release the prisoners are completely blocked.