The Diplomat
The European Commission intends to rule soon on the amnesty law registered on Monday by the Socialist Parliamentary Group and which the Government sent yesterday to the vice president of the Community Executive, Vera Jourova; and the Commissioner of Justice, Didier Reynders.
The text, which will help Pedro Sánchez achieve the support of the Catalan independentists for his investiture as President of the Government, is already being studied by the Commission, which knows that it is expected to issue an official opinion soon.
Yesterday, Eric Mamer, spokesperson for the president of the European Commission, Ursula Von der Leyen, was forced to deny the information that indicated that in a first study, the Brussels legal services did not appreciate any collision with the proposal of amnesty law with community principles and norms.
The information was released yesterday afternoon by Europa Press, citing community sources, and it stated that “a priori” the Commission considered that the amnesty law respected the two conditions set by Brussels: that it does not cover the evil use of community funds and that no mechanism is included for monitoring sentences by Parliament because it considers that there has been “lawfare” or use of judicial sentences for political purposes.
However, the Commission spokesperson was categorical in pointing out that “there are no preliminary decisions” on the text, which means that the Community Executive has not completed its examination of it.
The Commission services will be especially attentive to whether the text contains anything that affects the financial interests of the EU and the rule of law, because it violates the principle of separation of powers if it includes cases of ‘lawfare’. Article 2 of the draft amnesty law submitted to Congress details the assumptions that are excluded from the future amnesty, including among them “crimes that affect the financial interests of the European Union.” Now, Brussels must study whether this promise is true.
Likewise, the Commission will monitor whether the “lawfare”, which appears in the agreement signed by the PSOE and Junts, which opens the door for parliamentary committees to examine this issue, which could call into question the separation of powers, It appears in some way in the amnesty law, although the text sent does not mention it.
Yesterday, the leader of the PP, Alberto Núñez Feijóo, asked the EU to intervene against the Amnesty Law, which he considers a democratic “involution” and “blackmail.” Furthermore, he warned that Spain could join Poland, Hungary or Romania as a country “singled for the attack on its rule of law.”
In the Senate, the PP asserted its absolute majority to definitively approve a reform of the Regulations that will allow the processing of the amnesty law to be delayed for up to two months.
