Came the day. In Granada, within the framework of the European Summit. It was there where Pedro Sánchez pronounced for the first time the word that has been haunting them for weeks: amnesty. The elephant finally appeared in the room. The acting President of the Government has not only mentioned the word "amnesty", but has described what this measure that he is negotiating with the Catalan independentists means to him.
"It is still a way of trying to overcome the judicial consequences of the situation that occurred in Spain with one of the worst territorial crises that we have experienced." This is what the amnesty means for Spain, this is what Sánchez wants to achieve by reaching an agreement with ERC and Junts to facilitate his inauguration. Curiously mentioning the word "amnesty" in response to a question that did not mention this term.
It is worth remembering that until the holding of the general elections on July 23, and even after, the Government defended that the amnesty and the referendum had no place in the Constitution. All the ministers and the President of the Executive himself supported this thesis. Now the position, which has changed, is that everything that is agreed on this pardon will be "within the framework of the Constitution."
The setting for this first verbalization of the "amnesty" has been Granada, despite the fact that in all of his latest interventions he has been asked about this matter. Within the framework of the celebration of an extraordinary European Council with Spain as host, as they are rotating presidents of the EU. And Sánchez has defended this pardon for the first time, escorted by the two representatives of the European institutions: Charles Michel, president of the European Council, and Ursula von der Leyen, president of the European Commission.
This Friday it became known that Sumar is going to present next Tuesday in Barcelona his proposal on amnesty, which would apply to those convicted and prosecuted for the consultation on the future of Catalonia in 2014 and the illegal referendum of 2017, both for the commission of criminal and administrative infractions. Sánchez has confirmed that he was aware of the document promoted by Yolanda Díaz, but has clarified: "It is not the PSOE proposal. It is not the position of the PSOE." Distance. Coldness.
And he has provided another piece of information, in this strategy of taking steps to pave the way for the amnesty: that he not only knows, and distances himself from, Sumar's proposal, but he also knows the proposal of "other parliamentary groups" on the amnesty.
The socialist candidate does not give any clues as to where the contacts with Junts and ERC take place. He is determined that they reach a successful conclusion, but he keeps them in the dark, not wanting to take steps that could bring down the dialogue. "I cannot anticipate an agreement until that agreement occurs because we are in full negotiation. There will be no agreement until everything is agreed."
