Feijóo sets “minimum conditions for the amnesty” for Puigdemont: another turn?

@ElentirENG ES 2·11·2024 · 7:03 0

One of the reasons for the growing discredit of the Spanish political class is the low value that some politicians give to their word.

The Popular Party movement that reveals its lack of firmness against the amnesty
The incoherence of attacking equality on a Thursday and demonstrating for it on Sunday

What some media claim that Feijóo and the PP have said

Yesterday, several media outlets stated that the president of the Popular Party, Alberto Núñez Feijóo, has declared himself open to granting a conditional pardon to the fugitive Puigdemontas part of a "reconciliation" plan for Catalonia. You can see here the corresponding news in different media: Efe, El País, La Vanguardia, Eldiario.es, Cadena SER, OK Diario and COPE.

The aforementioned media appeal to some words spoken by Feijóo at a PP event in Sarria (Lugo) and also to statements made by PP "sources" without identifying them. Contrary to what was stated by these media, last night Europa Press stated: «The PP says that the conditions are not met to pardon Puigdemont and that he rejected the amnesty "in less than 24 hours."» This agency also does not indicate which people from the PP have made these statements, released in response to what was published by the aforementioned media and by some other media.

A video that clearly shows what Feijóo said

As my confidence in journalism is rather low, I have decided to see for myself what Feijóo said. Here you can see the video of the broadcast of that PP event in Sarria. At point 1:03:08 of the video, Feijóo says the following:

"Of course we are in favor of reconciliation, and we will do everything possible so that those who broke coexistence are reconciled with the rule of law and with the coexistence of the country. Reconciliation is necessary but never can go through impunity. There is no reconciliation if someone who has committed something says that he will commit it again, and much less if he says that he is going to reoffend and declare again the independence of a part of our country, to carry out an illegal referendum and to steal and hide from all the basic principles that govern the rule of law.

You can see that part in this video player (I have inserted it so that it starts at the point indicated above):

What Feijóo says in the cited paragraph is not very similar to what some media have commented, although it is not understood what his desire for "reconciliation" with those who broke the laws comes from. What can be expected of criminals in a democratic country is that they be punished for the crimes committed. This is how a person reconciles with the society he has harmed: paying for it.

Feijóo spoke of “the minimum conditions for the amnesty”

The fact is that Feijóo continued talking about this matter, and what came next was worse than what the aforementioned media reported. This is what he said next, as you can hear in the aforementioned video:

"These are the minimum conditions: the minimum conditions for reconciliation, and they are the minimum conditions for amnesty, for pardons or for any issue. We cannot pass, we can never pass by all those who "They force us to apologize for demanding that they comply with the laws. We will always demand it, no matter what it costs us, and in this case even if it has cost us the presidency of the government of Spain."

In September Feijóo said that the amnesty was neither legally nor ethically acceptable

Thus, Feijóo not only opens the door to a pardon for Puigdemont, pointing out some "minimum conditions" to grant it to him, although he affirms that these conditions do not exist, but he also speaks of "conditions" minimum requirements for amnesty. Let us remember that Feijóo has openly stated that an amnesty does not fit into the Constitution. On September 26, 2023, in his speech as a candidate for the presidency of the government in the Congress, Feijóo stated:

"I can already tell you that in the project that I have come to present to you, the amnesty does not appear, nor does it include self-determination on the part of the Nation or analogous or equivalent formulas. Given the drift of the requests followed in recent weeks , I understand that someone who aspires to be president of all Spaniards, of all, must make this clear from the first moment, I do. For me it is neither legally nor ethically acceptable. Outside the Constitution there is no democracy"

You can see that statement at point 4:27 of this video published by the Popular Party itself on its YouTube channel (I have inserted it so that it starts there):

Then Feijóo said that the amnesty was neither legally nor ethically acceptable, and he considered (correctly) that this was a departure from the Constitution and therefore from democracy itself. However, five months later he says that there may be certain conditions for an amnesty for the sake of reconciliation.

Is the PP preparing another turn?

On December 12 I commented here that the PP will end up faltering with the amnesty, just as it faltered with issues such as abortion, gender ideology and other dogmas ideological of the left-wing. Tomorrow marks two months since the publication of that article and Feijóo is already opening the door to amnesty, and thereby preparing yet another political turn for the PP, another betrayal of his word and his voters. I regret that I was not wrong, because having politicians like that is a disgrace for my country, but it is enough to review the trajectory of the Popular Party to expect the worst when it comes to enforcing its word.

---

Photo: Partido Popular. Alberto Núñez Feijóo at a PP event in Sarria (Lugo) on Saturday, February 10, 2024.