Small political party shuns amnesty measure, as a setback for the Spanish leader

Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez's fragile coalition of Spain exposed deep and potentially crippling cracks on Tuesday when a small, hardline Catalan separatist party he was allied with rejected a critical amnesty measure as unsatisfactory.

The party, Together for Catalonia, provided the support that allowed Mr Sánchez to form the government last year, on the condition that he grant amnesty for alleged crimes linked to the failed bid for independence in 2017. On Tuesday, the party that the legislative shield against persecution for it and its leaders should be wider.

The measure's rejection in Spain's 350-seat lower house, by 179 votes against and 171 votes in favor, was a setback for Mr Sánchez, raising the possibility of weeks of more difficult negotiations. It also raised the prospect that negotiating the amnesty deal – the very thing that gave rise to his second term – could leave the government unable to pass basic legislation, including an upcoming budget.

“The problem is that this could be a zombie government,” said Pablo Simón, a political scientist at Carlos III University in Madrid, who added that since Mr. Sánchez had no incentive to call early elections, the government simply went along could march for the elections. doing nothing for months or years if the amnesty knot was not untied.

“This shows that the party support of this government is very weak,” he added.

The Together for Catalonia party, a pro-independence movement, has the ability to hold Mr Sánchez and his government hostage over the issue, as few votes are needed to pass legislation in a deeply divided and polarized parliament.

The party itself is divided, making it harder to negotiate with, but it is seeking a blanket amnesty for Carles Puigdemont, the former regional president of Catalonia who led the failed secessionist movement in 2017 and who still lives in self-imposed exile in Belgium. .

The party argues that amnesty should apply immediately to ongoing cases and be broader to provide protection against charges such as terrorism and treason. This is necessary, it says, to defend party members against a judiciary that they experience as politically motivated and hostile.

A judge is investigating whether Mr Puigdemont ordered the blocking of Barcelona airport and whether that amounts to terrorism. Another judge is investigating possible links between Puigdemont's top advisers and Russia, suggesting there could be betrayal.

Mr Sánchez, who forged his coalition with a mix of parliamentary parties despite winning fewer votes than the country's leading conservative party in last year's elections, had tried to make concessions but they were not enough. He and his allies worry that an overly broad amnesty could violate the Spanish constitution or European Union law.

Conservatives warned that the amnesty deal that brought Sánchez back to power was tantamount to a deal with the devil because it would give Puigdemont influence over the entire government.

The amnesty law was politically necessary for Mr. Sánchez but publicly unpopular. Polls showed that a large majority of Spanish voters opposed the proposal. The conservative opposition has organized mass demonstrations in recent months, attended by hundreds of thousands of people, to protest what they saw as a deeply cynical miscarriage of justice.

Analysts expected the fragmented nature of the governing coalition to cause problems for key legislative issues such as the upcoming budget or questions of autonomy and taxation for the northern regions. But the fragmentation is happening sooner and is sharper than expected.

However, the defeat of the amnesty measure may be temporary. It will now go back to a committee to work out a new proposal, with possibly new amendments, and to be voted on again in no more than a month.

But Mr Sànchez and his Socialists appear weaker after the initial loss.

“This government has had problems from the very beginning – it will be difficult to govern,” said Mr Simón, the political scientist. He added that the administration and its allies were concerned that this “is going to happen with every vote.”