Feijóo's ups and downs: the conditional pardon for Puigdemont to back down from the dialogue table with Catalonia

Alberto Núñez Feijóo's management at the head of the Popular Party has been marked by ups and downs regarding his position regarding Catalonia and the processes. During the last few months, and especially as a result of the early call of the general elections on 23-J and its result, the leader of the PP has backtracked on his words on numerous occasions, spurred on by the contrary reaction from members of the formation of him. Also because of his relationship with Vox. The last bomb fell on Saturday night, when popular sources at the highest level admitted that Feijóo would be willing to study, as an alternative to the amnesty, the possibility of a conditional pardon for Carles Puigdemont as part of a “reconciliation plan” for Catalonia. In what represents a turnaround with respect to the confrontation strategy exercised by the popular against the Government and the measure of grace.

Before this episode, which has generated confusion within the party in the middle of the Galician campaign, the head of the opposition had been involved in other lurches:

Dialogue table. Feijóo expressed in the pre-campaign of 23-J in an interview in The Spanish Newspaper that would maintain the continuity of the dialogue table with the independentists, with the condition that issues that affect all Spaniards would not be addressed in said forum. The announcement caused discontent among the Catalan PP, which is why they ended up retracing their own steps. The popular leader later maintained that he would deactivate said instrument if he were sworn in as president after the general elections.

Relationship with Junts. The spiral of statements by PP leaders about Junts became entangled in August from the shock lived by the result in the general polls. The Popular Party gave Puigdemont's party the status of interlocutor when deputy secretary Esteban González Pons stated that it was “a party whose tradition and legality are not in doubt.”

Dissolution of parties. Feijóo opened himself up to softening his proposal to dissolve parties that promote declarations of independence or an illegal referendum after the unanimous criticism received for his proposal in the press. The amendment to the entire amnesty law registered by the PP would imply, if approved, the illegalization of Junts. Members of Puigdemont's circle met in the summer with the spokesperson for the popular parties in Barcelona City Council, Daniel Sirera.

Territorial lace. In September, in the context of the negotiations for his investiture, Feijóo opened the door to “searching for a new solution to the territorial problem of Catalonia”, as long as it is done through a State pact, “in accordance with the law.” and the Constitution. Given the discomfort caused by his statements in the Catalan PP and the difficulties of Genoa in explaining his proposal, the party clarified that it was referring to the fact that a territorial pact was necessary that improves the functioning of the autonomous communities.

Inflame the speech. During the last few weeks, with his sights set on the Galician elections of 18-F, Feijóo has been escalating his tone against the Government. He has considered the amnesty to be “unconstitutional” and Congress has considered that it does not have “legitimacy” to approve the law. Currently, popular sources have revealed that for 24 hours they studied Junts' proposal to apply the measure of grace to the defendants.

In 2021, when he was not yet the leader of the PP, but rather president of the Xunta, Feijóo supported a demonstration in Colón against the pardons. “It is a pardon for government partners, and there arises a conflict of interest, and in administrative law that forces them to abstain,” he said then. Today it opens to a conditional pardon for Carles Puigdemont as part of a “reconciliation plan” for Catalonia.

Terrorism. During one of the numerous demonstrations called by the PP against the amnesty, Feijóo described as “terrorist acts” the “violence” exerted on police officers in Catalonia in 2017 and during the riots after the Supreme Court ruling in 2019. PP sources al highest level now admit that it will be difficult for judges to prove that Puigdemont committed a crime of terrorism, as attributed by Judge Manuel García-Castellón in a judicial order appealed by the Prosecutor's Office.

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