EU court clears Spain’s Catalan amnesty law under bloc rules
The ruling backs Spain’s power to grant amnesty tied to Catalonia’s separatist push and may affect exiled leader Carles Puigdemont.
By James Whitfield · Staff Writer
3 min read
The European Union’s top court said Spain’s amnesty law for people involved in Catalonia’s separatist campaign is compatible with EU law. The ruling gives legal support to Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez’s government and to the Catalan parties whose backing helped keep him in office.
The Court of Justice of the European Union ruled Thursday that EU law does not block Spain from adopting the measure because amnesty decisions of this kind fall within the powers of member states, according to Al Jazeera and Reuters.
A judge delivering the decision said the court did not object to a law that seeks to ease political and institutional tensions and support reconciliation by ending criminal liability, Al Jazeera and Reuters reported.
Two-month deadline addressed
The court also considered a procedural rule requiring amnesty decisions within two months. Judges said such a deadline is lawful in principle, according to Al Jazeera and Reuters.
But the court added a limit: when a case has been referred to the EU court for a preliminary ruling, national authorities must wait for that ruling before deciding on the amnesty, Al Jazeera and Reuters reported.
The judgment clarifies how far EU member states may go in passing amnesty laws while still operating within EU rules. It leaves Spain’s law standing under bloc law, while setting conditions around how national authorities apply it in cases linked to EU court proceedings.
Law followed years of separatist conflict
Spain’s lower house approved the amnesty in 2024. The measure was designed to cancel the criminal records of hundreds of officials and activists tied to crimes connected with Catalonia’s independence drive from 2011, according to Al Jazeera and Reuters.
The ruling could help open the door for the return of Carles Puigdemont, the exiled leader of the Catalan independence movement, Al Jazeera and Reuters reported.
Catalonia’s separatist crisis escalated after pro-independence leaders won the 2015 regional elections. In 2017, they held an independence referendum that passed after Spain’s Constitutional Court had declared it illegal, according to Al Jazeera and Reuters.
The crisis became Spain’s most serious political confrontation in decades, Al Jazeera and Reuters reported. The amnesty was presented as a way to close that chapter, though it remained politically divisive inside Spain.
Sanchez relied on Catalan support
Sanchez, who leads the Socialist Party, proposed the amnesty as part of a parliamentary arrangement with Catalan secessionist parties. Their support allowed him to remain prime minister after Spain’s inconclusive 2023 elections, according to Al Jazeera and Reuters.
Conservative parties opposed the measure, Al Jazeera and Reuters reported. Supporters framed it as a step toward reconciliation after years of legal and political confrontation over Catalonia’s independence movement.
Thursday’s decision does not settle Spain’s political debate over the amnesty. It does, however, remove a major EU-law challenge to the measure and confirms that member states have room to adopt such laws within the bloc’s legal framework, according to the court’s ruling as reported by Al Jazeera and Reuters.
This story draws on original reporting from Al Jazeera.