The Bureau, procedural body for Spain's Congress of Deputies, with its majority in the hands of the Socialists (PSOE) and left-wing Sumar, has this Tuesday refused to request reports from the General Council of the Judiciary (CGPJ) and the Public Prosecutors' Council on the Catalan amnesty bill. The reports were requested by the opposition People's Party (PP), which continues attempting everything possible to block the passage into law of the measure. For now, it has had no success, with two weeks left until the bill is due to be debated in the lower house.
The PP asserts that given the complexity of the text as a piece of legislation, it should be accompanied by the reports of these bodies to consolidate its legality. As well, the Spanish conservatives regard it as problematic that the planned legislation is being processed as a legislative bill proposed by a parliamentary party (the PSOE), since Spanish parliamentary rules distinguish between the procedures for bills originating in political party initiatives and those proposed by the government, and the PP assert that the amnesty bill should be classed in the more-stringent latter category. They point to the fact that it was the presidency and justice minister, Félix Bolaños, and not the PSOE spokesperson, Patxi López, who presented it at a congressional press conference, at which Bolaños stated that it was "a [government bill] that was being conveyed through a [party bill]". They interpret from this that the text was drawn up by the government and not by the Socialist parliamentary group. Thus, they say, it should be accompanied by mandatory reports from the judiciary authorities and and prosecution service.
Faced with this request, the PSOE and Sumar have asserted their majority in the Bureau to block the PP's action, given that, as parliamentary sources argue, "there is no regulation that allows for this to be done". Despite the refusal, the PP does have the option of asking judges and prosecutors for a formal opinion during its subsequent passage through the Senate, where Feijóo's party has an absolute majority, in both chamber and Bureau.
The PP offensive against the amnesty also extends to making a request for the Congressional Bureau's reconsideration of its admission for hearing, a move unlikely to succeed, but once these avenues have been exhausted, the options of appealing to an administrative disputes court or the Constitutional Court become possible.
Green light for Pegasus committee proposal
The PSOE-Sumar majority in Congress's Bureau has also voted to move forward with the proposal to create a committee to inquire into the espionage with Pegasus software on the pro-independence leaders. This committee, proposed in a text submitted by ERC and Bildu, will have to have the authorization of the plenary of parliament for it to be finally set up. This committee, together with another which will look into the terrorist attacks on Barcelona and Cambrils in 2017, arises from the PSOE's accords with Junts and ERC to elect Francina Armengol as speaker of the Congress of Deputies in August.
The investigation proposed by ERC and Bildu focuses on the information published by the Canadian research centre Citizen Lab, which in the spring of 2022 revealed that more than 60 people linked to the Catalan independence movement, including politicians, activists and journalists, had been spied on through their mobile phones with the Israeli spy program Pegasus.