Before next spring, the Council of Europe will have a first internal report on the controversial amnesty law agreed by the PSOE with the Catalan independentists to facilitate the investiture of Pedro Sánchez and which is now being processed in the Congress of Deputies. The opinion will be prepared by one of its advisory bodies, the so-called Venice Commission (the name by which the European Commission for Democracy through Law is known), after receiving an urgent request from the Senate in that regard last week. .
The decision to accept the assignment from the Upper House, where the PP enjoys an absolute majority, was taken by the Venice Commission in its plenary session last Friday and Saturday. However, its conclusions were not revealed until this Monday, once the synopsis of said meeting was published.
In this way, the aforementioned European body concludes that it will prepare its opinion on the parliamentary bill “for amnesty for the institutional, political and social normalization” of Catalonia “no later than the March 2024 plenary session.” First, the institution must designate a working group made up of international constitutional experts.
Furthermore, the plenary session has decided to attend to a second request, this one presented by the president of the Council of Europe's own parliamentary assembly, the Dutch socialist Tiny Kox, to prepare a more general study on “the requirements of the rule of law that an amnesty must comply” which must also be ready “at the latest” in March of next year.
Non-binding but respected
The Venice Commission is a consultative body of the Council of Europe, so its conclusions are not binding on its member countries. However, it is considered an authoritative voice on matters of the rule of law, justice and Fundamental Rights.
It is precisely its standards that the European Commission evokes in its recommendations on the rule of law when it demands that Spain urgently renew the General Council of the Judiciary (CGPJ). It also requests its rulers to undertake, immediately afterwards, a reform of the system of election of members so that at least half are chosen by the judges.
For its part, the European Commission is also examining the rule agreed upon by the PSOE with Junts and ERC. However, the legal services in Brussels will not issue their opinion until the law has completed its parliamentary processing and takes its final form, including amendments.
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