The political tug-of-war over the reform of the Spanish sedition law continues. This Wednesday the Spanish prime minister, Pedro Sánchez, has suggested, in an informal conversation with journalists who are following the official trip he is making to Kenya and South Africa, that his presentation of a legislative change to reform the crime of sedition - which his government has promised for almost 3 years - will depend on the Catalan Republican Left (ERC). What Sánchez was implying is that, before presenting anything, he wants to make sure that ERC, pro-independence party and also a key Spanish government partner, is committed to supporting the proposed reform. And in addition, as well as this parliamentary support for the law reform, the Spanish PM wants his allies to go further and accept that crimes were committed in the context of the Catalan independence referendum of 2017.
At the moment, the leader of the Spanish executive is maintaining his commitment to reduce the penalties for the crime of sedition. He first made this commitment in his investiture speech in January 2020. In recent months, the Spanish Socialists have got used to kicking the can down the road when the subject comes up, asserting that it does not have enough support. The PSOE says that when the reform bill is presented, it must have no chance of being rejected, and thus the minority Sánchez government needs to have all its voting support committed. With the support of the opposition People's Party rules out, it would be essential for ERC to back the plan with its 13 votes in Congress. According to the EFE agency, Sánchez remains firm in defending what he has always trumpeted as his executive's "agenda for the re-encounter" over Catalonia.
Sedition reform doesn't meet ERC's demand for an amnesty
Right now, ERC's support seems difficult if Sánchez's only offer is to reduce the penalties for the crime, given that the Catalan party has raised the banner of an amnesty for those facing judicial actions over the independence process, a point that the Spanish Socialists do not even want to hear about. And, in fact, Sánchez believes that it is "obvious" that the Republicans should recognize that crimes were committed during the independence process and that these would not disappear, but that the penalties would be reduced. The commitment over the reform of the sedition offence is, it seems, an offer made in the context of building bridges between Madrid and Catalonia and the so-called dialogue table, while the insistent calls for reform of the Spanish crime by organizations from the Council of Europe to Amnesty International are not mentioned in the Socialists' domestic discourse.
Meanwhile, this Tuesday, the Catalan government spokesperson, Patrícia Plaja, herself tried to avoid making statements on the sedition issue. She was asked specifically about whether the government of the Generalitat was committed to a reform of sedition or, alternatively, to its full repeal. Plaja did not explicitly support one option or the other and limited herself to saying that what the Catalan executive backs is what international reports from the UN and the Council of Europe have said about this crime. The spokesperson admitted that there were discreet contacts and negotiations and she demanded respect for this confidentiality with the aim that they "arrive at a successful outcome".
Montero says there will be reform but not when
In Madrid, the Spanish finance minister María Jesús Montero announced in the context of the budget debate in the Congress of Deputies that the Spanish government will introduce a reform of several offences in the Penal Code, including that of sedition, to match them to European standards. However, Montero failed to announced any date for a promise that the Socialists have already been making for over 30 months. It is clear that ERC hopes that the law change will be before the end of this year, taking into account that the Catalan and Spanish governments spoke of "movements towards the dejudicialization" of the conflict at the dialogue table meeting in July: in fact, no other initiative relative to "dejudicialization" is even underway.