The leader of the opposition in the Catalan Parliament, Salvador Illa (PSC), has expressed the view that the Catalan government's proposed fund to assist former senior government officials prosecuted by the Court of Accounts is within the law. The Socialist leader has thus changed his mind regarding the measure promoted by the economy minister, Jaume Giró.
Illa changed his position after receiving information on the legality of the fund which he had requested from his party's legal advisors. "The information I have today, according to my parliamentary group's legal team and others I have contacted, is that it is a decree that is very much in line with the law," he said in an interview with radio station RAC1.
Before the Council of Statutory Guarantees
Previously, the PSC had presented its doubts about the propriety of the decree law and fund to Catalonia's Council of Statutory Guarantees (CGE), the legal organism entrusted with ensuring that Catalan legislation complies with the Statute of Autonomy and the Spanish Constitution. A step which Ciudadanos (Cs) and the Popular Party (PP) also intend to emulate.
Salvador Illa justified this action by his party, affirming that, although a ruling by the CGE would not be binding, it would have political value, which could end the controversy generated around the so-called Complementary Risk Fund of the Generalitat de Catalunya (FCRCAT). Illa emphasised that his motive was thus to prevent any lingering doubt from hanging over the issue.
For their part, the PP and Cs need to act jointly to request an opinion from the Council of Statutory Guarantees, as 14 deputies or two parliamentary groups are required to enlist the opinion of the body.
Protection of Catalan government officials
The decree law, which was shepherded through Parliament by the Catalan ministry of economy, aims to protect Catalan government officials from possible reprisals by the Spanish state for simply doing their job. This fund was created as a result of the multi-million euro demands - expected to be paid virtually immediately, without the matter having gone to trial - made by Spain's controversial public spending audit body, the Court of Accounts, against former senior Catalan officials.
The conditions for requesting coverage from this fund are that there is no final court decision declaring the actions of the affected person illegal, that the risk is no longer covered by other insurance policies of the administration and that the Catalan government has not initiated any action itself against the accused person. Those who want to benefit from the fund have to submit an application stating whether these premises are met.
In the event that those affected end up being found guilty, they would have to return the money to the Catalan authorities, although the minister Giró, when presenting this measure, was confident that the court process would not end in this way, as, so far, rulings by European justice on independence-related proceedings have taken stands completely opposed to the positions asserted by the Spanish judiciary.
Main image: PSC leader Salvador Illa during a session of the Parliament of Catalonia / ACN