The Diplomat
The government has postponed until December the holding of a seminar on the rule of law, which it had planned to hold at the beginning of next week in Segovia and which was to coincide with Pedro Sánchez’s negotiations to form a government, which could lead to the approval of amnesty measures for Catalan pro-independence supporters.
The seminar was to be attended by, among others, the EU Justice Commissioner, Didier Reynders, who has not spared the government criticism at other times for not having carried out the reform of the General Council of the Judiciary. His presence at an event announced under the slogan “Values and the Rule of Law in the EU. Political Priority and Demands for Legitimacy. A reflection on the future”, it was anticipated that the question of amnesty would come to the fore, about which the Socialist candidate prefers to be as reserved as possible.
In addition, the Belgian liberal Reynders has just received several letters from Spanish MEPs, especially from Ciudadanos, asking for protection against the possibility that Sánchez might agree with those involved in the attempted coup of 1 October 2017 in Catalonia on some kind of amnesty law to guarantee his favourable vote in a future investiture session.
Sources at the Foreign Ministry assured The Diplomat that the postponement was due to the wish that the Vice-President and Commissioner for Values and Transparency, the Czech Vera Jourova, could participate in the seminar.
In any case, Reynders will be in Spain on the dates initially scheduled for the seminar and is scheduled to meet with the acting Minister of Justice, Pilar Llop.
The fact is that the event was still announced on Thursday on the website of the Spanish Presidency of the EU for 9 and 10 October, on the María Zambrano Campus of the University of Valladolid in Segovia, with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs listed as the organiser. Although it is not detailed who will participate, it is explained that “the seminar will examine the issue of the rule of law on the agenda of the European Union, its impact on the Member States and the prospects for the future, with the aim of addressing with experts and authorities the issue of the rule of law in the European Union, following up on the work of the Commission, its impact on the Member States and its future in the framework of future enlargements of the Union”.
The postponement of the seminar has come as a surprise to those involved in its development and has meant having to cancel the flight and accommodation bookings that had been made.
