The Spanish prime minister, Pedro Sánchez, has this Wednesday called the declaration of independence made by the Catalan Parliament in 2017 a "big problem". Sánchez made the statements at a press conference at the G-20 summit being held in Bali, in the process ignoring the fact that his Spanish Socialist party voted in favour of imposing direct rule on Catalonia via Article 155 of the Constitution and, instead, he attributed the management of the events solely to the People's Party (PP). "In 2018, I inherited a big problem in Catalonia. And when I say problem, I mean a problem of coexistence like very few that have occurred in the years of Spanish democracy, with a Parliament of Catalonia that unilaterally declared independence. And I think I remember, if my memory serves me correctly, that it was the PP to whom they made this unilateral declaration of independence", he indicated.
Pedro Sánchez: "Cuando tuve el honor de ser elegido Pte. del Gob. heredé un problemón de convivencia en Cataluña. Y creo que hoy nadie duda, hasta incluso los más duros adversarios políticos, que la situación en Cataluña hoy en 2022 es infinitamente mejor" pic.twitter.com/Eg8b6qozmv
— José López (@JoseLopezBnitez) November 16, 2022
"Independence" crimes are still on the books
Sánchez's words in Indonesia come in the context of his government's decision to reform the crime of sedition, under which nine Catalan pro-independence leaders were sentenced to 9-13 years of jail in 2019. He asserted that the crimes which he believes are implied by a declaration of independence will continue to be listed as offences, despite the reform of the sedition law, and for this reason, he says, he does not understand the PP's rejection of the reform. "These crimes are not decriminalized, they don't leave the Penal Code", he insisted. On the other hand, the Spanish PM refused to comment on whether he would be prepared to reform the crime of misuse of public funds, as requested by Catalan governing party ERC, and avoided answering further questions about the proposed law reform on the grounds that amendments to the law are still unknown and he would not speak "about abstract hypotheses".
Sánchez stressed that the Spanish executive has now fulfilled its commitment "to make the crime of sedition compatible with the laws of countries around us" and affirmed that this was the purpose of the parliamentary initiative presented by the PSOE and Unides Podemos. He did not, however, mention the controversial substitute offence to be included in the new law, that of aggravated public disorder, but rather, asserted that today the situation in Catalonia is "infinitely better than in 2017".
"What the [Spanish] government is doing is taking another step towards harmony between the Catalans," added Sánchez, highlighting the work of the Spanish-Catalan dialogue table on the conflict, which has met three times in almost three years since it was created.