Eduardo González
This past Tuesday, the Council of Ministers referred to the Parliament the agreement between Spain and Qatar for the transfer of people sentenced to a prison sentence, while authorizing the expression of Spain’s consent to be bound by the aforementioned agreement.
This is the second time that the Council of Ministers has referred this agreement to the Cortes. The previous one occurred on March 20, 2023, but on that occasion the Government’s decision declined due to the dissolution of Parliament after the call for early general elections on July 23.
The competent authorities of Spain and Qatar have maintained contacts since May 2018 with the intention of negotiating a bilateral agreement on the transfer of convicted people. After a negotiating round by videoconference held between February 8 and 10, 2021, followed by an exchange of observations by both parties, the final wording of the text was finally agreed upon.
The agreement was signed in Madrid on October 24, 2022 by the then Minister of Justice, María Pilar Llop Cuenca, and the ambassador of the State of Qatar in Spain, Abdulla bin Ibrahim Al-Hamar, after receiving authorization from the Council of Ministers on May 3, 2022, a few days before the visit to Spain of the Emir of Qatar, Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani.
The agreement “strengthens relations between both States, increasing cooperation in the field of transfer of people sentenced to custodial sentences, favoring integration and combating the social uprooting caused by internment in a country other than that of their origin,” indicated the Council.
