Fugitive behind Spain’s illegal separatist poll on brink of return
Socialists plan amnesty law pardoning Catalan activist
To some, he is a hero who led a failed bid to create Europe’s newest state in Catalonia. To others, Carles Puigdemont is the hated leader of a party that ripped Spain apart.
separatist
Six years after he fled from Spain to France hidden in the boot of a car after staging an illegal independence referendum, the fugitive could return without facing any charges for his part in the country’s worst political crisis in decades.
Spain’s caretaker Socialist government is poised to pass an amnesty law this week pardoning hundreds of separatists facing criminal charges in connection with the 2017 Catalan independence bid that was declared illegal by the constitutional court.
Puigdemont currently faces charges of disobedience and embezzlement of public funds over the breakaway bid, offences that can carry jail terms of up to eight years. If these are dropped, the former Catalan leader could return to Barcelona triumphantly from his refuge in Belgium to be greeted by jubilant supporters.
Spain’s acting prime minister, Pedro Sanchez, wants to agree to the amnesty law, possibly this week, to secure the support of two separatist parties that have 14 votes – enough to give his coalition government a parliamentary majority of 176 votes.
The amnesty deal would be a triumph for Puigdemont and his Catalan separatist movement after years of being pursued unsuccessfully by Spanish judges with international arrest warrants.
It would also place the independence movement centrestage in Spanish politics just as support for the cause is falling.
On Thursday, a meeting of Together For Catalonia, the hardline Catalan separatist party that Puigdemont leads, failed to reach an agreement – for now – on backing the amnesty deal.
But the prospect of granting an amnesty to Catalan separatists over their roles in the 2017 breakaway bid has sparked fury from Spain’s opposition conservative People’s Party, the far-right Vox party, and senior figures within the Socialists, as well as judges.
About 100,000 people demonstrated in Madrid last week against the amnesty law and a poll in September showed 70% opposed it.
Sanchez sought to assure Spaniards that Puigdemont would not benefit from the amnesty law. “Nobody is above the law. Puigdemont is a fugitive from justice. We will work so the Spanish judicial system can judge him with impartiality,” he posted on X last week.
However, Manuel Cancio, professor of criminal law at the Autonomous University of Madrid, said the terms of an amnesty law would decide if Puigdemont would escape charges.
“This amnesty law is exceptional in Spain,” he said. “The last time we had one was in 1977 after the Franco dictatorship to prohibit retrospective prosecution of offences during the civil war and Franco regime.
“Once this new law comes into force, Puigdemont should be able to return to Spain without being arrested or charged. But first we will have to see the terms of the law.”
Insiders from his own party told The Sunday Post that the 60-year-old former journalist turned ideological leader had largely lived apart from his wife and two daughters in Belgium while they remained in Girona, a Spanish city on the border with France. They occasionally take holidays together in the south of France or his family visits him.
Meanwhile, Josep Rius, the vice-president of Together For Catalonia, said he speaks to Puigdemont every day.
Sources from Catalan Republican Left (ERC), a moderate Catalan separatist party and bitter rival of Puigdemont’s party, paint a different picture of the independence leader.
“He has been away from Spain for so long that he is disconnected from what is really going on here. He doesn’t know the reality of what is happening,” a party insider said.
Just as Puigdemont’s star is rising, the independence movement in Catalonia is waning. Once the Esteladas, the Catalan independence flags, flew from almost every balcony in Barcelona. Not any more.
Today in the Catalan capital, it is almost as if the clashes between police and separatists that were beamed around the world during the 2017 referendum never happened.
A survey in October for the Catalan regional government polling firm CEO found 53.3% of people in this wealthy region opposed splitting away from Spain while 38% were in favour, down from 49% six years ago.
In July’s inconclusive election, Catalonia’s two main separatist parties lost 550,000 votes compared to the last election in 2019, while the Socialists gained 418,000. Analysts claimed this was due to Sanchez’s policies of negotiating with the separatists and granting controversial pardons to leaders who were jailed over the independence drive.
Despite faltering support, separatists believe there is no other option than to press for a vote on splitting from Spain.
Alberto Nunez Feijoo, leader of the People’s Party, warned: “The amnesty will legitimise the independence movement, which will be strengthened to once again challenge the state.”
Lluis Orriols, an expert in politics at the University of Carlos III in Madrid, said it was unclear what the political effect of an amnesty law could be.
“There is a lot of uncertainty. This will allow the Socialists to form a government and Mr Puigdemont’s party to be active in politics once again. But he could return with a divisive agenda which could cause problems,” he told The Sunday Post.