Aragonès hopes that a "new stage" will open after the amnesty based on an agreed referendum

"Time will also show a part of the Spanish left that this law was the right thing to do"

BARCELONA, 15 Mar. (EUROPA PRESS) -

The president of the Generalitat, Pere Aragonès, has stated this Friday that he hopes that a "new stage" will open in Catalonia after the approval of the Amnesty Law which is based on achieving an agreed referendum.

"Catalonia is looking forward now, and is looking forward to be able to open a new stage after the amnesty," he said in an interview in 'The Guardian' collected by Europa Press.

For Aragonès, this stage must be based on achieving an agreed referendum: "And those best positioned to defend an agreed referendum are those of us who have opted for dialogue and negotiation in an honest way."

He considers that the vote on the Amnesty Law supports his party's decision to enter into negotiations with the Government of Pedro Sánchez, and defends that the text will help end years of "political repression" by the State.

"First there were the pardons that freed the political prisoners, then the Penal Code was reformed to eliminate the crime of sedition and now we have the amnesty, which is the path that has led to the end of repression," he said.

For Aragonès, the PSOE can explain these reasons to its voters, which is why he is convinced that "time will also show a part of the Spanish left that this law was the right thing to do."

Regarding the role played by the PP, the Catalan president considers the Amnesty Law to be "another chapter" for the Spanish right, which he accuses of using Catalonia to win votes in the rest of the State.

When asked if the amnesty means that they renounce the unilateral path to independence, he responded that his priority is an agreed referendum: "I think that is the way to do it and I think that now there is the possibility of dialogue. We will see what alternatives to the referendum the Government proposes."

Although he does not rule out "any democratic means to achieve an independent Catalonia", he has opined that the current circumstances are very different from those of 2017.

Regarding Junts, he recalled that they governed together and that they left the Executive "because they thought that there was no need to negotiate with Pedro Sánchez."

"A year later they are negotiating with Pedro Sánchez, so there we are," Aragonès reproached.

In relation to the former president of the Generalitat and Junts MEP, Carles Puigdemont, he recalled that he was president in 2017, "a very important year in the recent history of Catalonia."

"But I think Catalonia is looking forward now, and is looking forward to be able to open a new stage after the amnesty," he added.

Furthermore, he has once again ruled out a possible coalition agreement with the PSC because "in a socioeconomic agenda it is no different from Junts, which is a party with a Catalan conservative tradition."