The calendar works against approving the amnesty before Sánchez's inauguration, as Puigdemont demands

The deadlines are tight and the PP has a majority in the Senate, but there are recent precedents for express processing

MADRID, 8 Oct. (EUROPA PRESS) -

The approval of an amnesty law is the main obstacle to the investiture of the PSOE candidate, Pedro Sánchez, who needs the support of the independentistas. The former Catalan president and leader of Junts Carles Puigdemont demanded that the rule be approved before voting in favor of the PSOE, but the calendar works against it. The deadlines are very tight to complete the procedure and the majority of the PP in the Senate can force a delay.

Although the socialist wing of the Government has not yet specified what the amnesty agreement would consist of, negotiations with ERC and especially with Junts are underway, as indicated by the acting President of the Government this week in Granada.

Furthermore, Sánchez indicated that the PSOE will establish its position on this matter after completing the round of contacts with the parliamentary groups, once the political groups have expressed their conditions in the formal meetings.

The round of contacts will continue throughout next week, so until then it will not be known, black and white, what the socialists' plans are. At that time there will be barely six weeks left for Sánchez's investiture to be held, which has a deadline of November 27. Otherwise the Chambers would be dissolved and there would be a repetition of general elections on January 14.

With this tight schedule, the possibilities of completing all the parliamentary procedures required to approve an amnesty law before deputies meet in Congress to decide whether Sánchez remains in La Moncloa are minimal. It is more likely that some step can be taken, that is, that an initiative is registered and the Congressional Board gives the go-ahead for it to be debated.

This would already be an important milestone and would highlight the change in the PSOE's position regarding the amnesty, because in 2021 ERC, Junts, the CUP and the PDeCat presented a proposal in the Lower House to amnesty the crimes of the process and the PSOE voted against admitting it to processing. In fact, the lawyers of Congress called it unconstitutional and the PSOE, along with PP and Vox, agreed.

By greatly speeding up the deadlines, a first debate on the amnesty law could even be held in the previous weeks, but there would still be several steps of the parliamentary procedure ahead. One of them, the approval of the law in the Senate, more than unlikely with the absolute majority of the PP in that Chamber.

His refusal is not an impediment to moving the law forward, but it slows down the process because he can request legal reports and if he refuses to approve it, he forces the law to return to Congress and be validated again a week later. Therefore, it is most likely that the amnesty law for those involved in the process or the equivalent that emanates from the negotiations between PSOE and independentists will see the light of day after Sánchez is re-elected.

There are other arguments against the express approval of the amnesty, for example, that the PSOE does not want to rush Sánchez's election to the end. Although the deadline is November 27, the socialists insist on having a new government "as soon as possible."

In addition, other leaders of the coalition such as Jaume Asens (Sumar), aware of the negotiations with Puigdemont and accompanying the acting vice president Yolanda Díaz on her trip to Brussels to meet with the former president, have been pointing out that an approval before the investiture It would be "almost impossible" due to lack of time.

In any case, the rules of Congress do not set all deadlines and the pace of processing of laws always depends on the majorities in the Chambers and their governing bodies. In fact, there are close precedents for express processing of demands from the independence movement, such as the suppression of the crime of sedition or, more recently, the use of co-official languages ​​in Congress.

The organic law by which the crime of sedition was suppressed was registered on November 11, 2022 and was approved in just over a month. It was registered as an organic law proposal, which, being an initiative of the parliamentary groups, allows us to avoid requesting reports from the Council of State or the General Council of the Judiciary.

Then comes the turn of the Board's qualification. Although the amnesty law did not pass this procedure in 2021, now it may be different since the criteria of the legal services are not mandatory and the decision is always political.

From the Congress table it is sent to Moncloa so that the Government gives its approval to the debate within a period of 30 days. In this way, he can exercise his veto power for budgetary reasons, if he considers that it would result in excessive spending or a loss of income. In the case of sedition, the Government sent the green light in just 24 hours.

The PSOE and Sumar, with their partners, can also assert an absolute majority to impose processing through the emergency procedure, which shortens the deadlines by half, and thus accelerate its debate and approval in the Plenary of the Chamber.

As it is an organic law, it requires an absolute majority, which are the votes that the socialists gathered to make Francina Armengol president of Congress. Finally, from Congress it would go to the Senate, where the PP can slow down the process, although it would end up returning to Congress again for final approval.