The President of the Spanish Government and candidate to lead the next legislature, Pedro Sánchez, addressed the Congress of Deputies in a speech on November 15 to defend his possible continuity in office. In the first session of his investiture debate after the failed attempt by opposition leader Alberto Núñez Feijóo and the inconclusive elections on July 23, Sánchez advocated for the controversial amnesty bill for Catalan pro-independence politicians prosecuted by the ‘procés’. In addition, he promised social measures such as free transportation for minors and the unemployed.
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Pedro Sánchez claims his probable investiture as a country project, beyond the controversial amnesty law.
However, the controversial measure is at the center of his process to lead the next legislature, after reaching an agreement on the matter between his political bench and the independentists of Junts per Cataluña.
A project that the leader of the Spanish Socialist Workers’ Party defended this Wednesday, November 15, in a speech before the Congress of Deputies as “perfectly legal and in accordance with the Constitution”, amid the boos of the legislators of the conservative Popular Party (PP ) and Vox, from the extreme right.
“In the name of Spain and in the name of Spain’s interest, in defense of harmony between Spaniards, we are going to grant an amnesty to the people prosecuted by the Catalan process,” he stated.
Sánchez assured that it is a necessary pact “to recover what was broken, promote coexistence and also forgiveness, to bet on a future of reconciliation (…) Dialogue is still possible to achieve an idea that is equally expressed in our four languages, which is concord, in defense of concord for the Spaniards we are going to channel an amnesty to those accused of the process.”
The acting president reiterated that the proposed amnesty, which has sparked protests across the country, would benefit “political leaders whose ideas I do not share and whose actions I reject, but also other people who were dragged into the process” and that it will be approved. under lights and stenographers, with total transparency”.
“The safest path for the unity of Spain”
Sánchez defended the amnesty as a process of forgiveness to advance as a country and improve coexistence, in what he pointed out as the achievements made in social and economic matters in the last four years of Government.
“The reactionary right-wing does not care about the amnesty, they know that it will be good for the country, what they really do not want is for us to continue improving the conditions of workers, strengthening healthcare, promoting the ecological transition, defending the rights of migrants , of the LGBTI groups, of women, that is why they do not want us to govern,” he stressed.
Therefore, the amnesty project is “the safest path for the unity of Spain,” highlighted the leader of the PSOE.
The pact reached last week between the PSOE and Junts per Catalunya plans to erase the “criminal, administrative and accounting responsibility” of more than 300 independence supporters and 73 police officers prosecuted in cases related to Catalonia’s attempts at independence.
This agreement opens the door to Sánchez’s investiture, whose first vote is scheduled for this Thursday, November 16.
Taking into account the results of the elections, the PSOE has the support of its 121 deputies, to whom would be added the 31 of the left-wing allied formation Sumar and predictably the six Basque independence deputies of EH Bildu and the five of the nationalists. Basques of the PNV.
Therefore, you need at least another 13 votes to complete the absolute majority. These votes are in the hands of the Catalan independence parties. Esquerra Republicana (ERC), which obtained seven seats in Parliament in the last elections on July 23, and Junts per Catalunya, which has seven other parliamentarians, so the support of these groups is crucial.
Pedro Sánchez is approaching his goal of being sworn in again as President of the Government.
With local media
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