Sánchez gives a turn to the legislature with the pardons to the prisoners of the 'procés' and accelerates the dialogue table with Catalonia

Catalan President Pere Aragonès, this Wednesday, at the Palau de la Generalitat MASSIMILIANO MINOCRI / EL PAÍS

The legislature turns upside down with Pedro Sánchez's decision to grant partial pardons to the 12 convicted of the

process

, nine of them in prison for more than three years. The measure could go faster than expected, according to Executive sources, although it is Sánchez who sets the times. The Government is also willing to speed up the appointment with the new

president

Pere Aragonès as soon as he requests it and the reactivation of the dialogue table while ERC maneuvers to guarantee that it has the reins of dialogue. The Executive defends the pardons with the argument that it is the best way to find a way out of the Catalan conflict.

The issue of pardons for prisoners in the independence process has never been discussed in the Council of Ministers or in any body of the Executive.

However, it has been part of the informal conversations between the hard core of the Government for months.

Several ministers took it for granted that they would eventually be granted.

But it has dislodged some that Sánchez chose so soon, even before the file reached the table of the Council of Ministers.

More information

• Aragonès includes in its Executive four indicted by the 'procés'

• The Supreme Court opposes the pardon of those convicted of the 'procés' and considers it an "unacceptable solution"

The sequence has been very clear. EL PAÍS published on Monday that the measure was already very mature in the Executive's debate and the Supreme Court would send the file this week to the Government. That same day, the Minister of Justice, Juan Carlos Campo, asked to see "naturally" the use of the legal instrument of pardon. On Tuesday, Sánchez definitively opened the door to forgiveness after stating that he will take into account in his decision constitutional values ​​such as "concord" versus "revenge or revenge." And this Wednesday, shortly before the opinion against the pardon of the Supreme Court was made public, Sánchez insisted on defending the measure of grace against Pablo Casado, leader of the PP."When Sánchez speaks of revenge, he is not referring to the ruling of the Supreme Court but to the people who reject the pardon with the argument that 'they hold on', they explain in the Government.

Sánchez has thus decided to enter fully into the matter, far from avoiding it and seeking a disguised decision in the middle of summer, as expected at first.

That makes members of the Executive think that the measure can be accelerated, although the Ministry of Justice still has to study it carefully.

Campo began on Wednesday to evaluate this matter with the experts from his cabinet.

The fundamental argument with which the Government comes to fight is political.

It is about the need to facilitate a way out of the conflict in Catalonia when the prisoners of the

procés

have already been in prison for three and a half years, that is, they no longer "go out of their way", as some argue.

The pardon, they explain in the Executive, contrary to the amnesty demanded by the independence movement and that the Government has ruled out as unconstitutional, does not annul the crime. It only forgives the part of the penalty that remains to be served and also does so partially, because it is most likely that the disqualification will not be pardoned. But above all, it is about launching a message of generosity from Spanish democracy that completely collides with the independence movement's attempt to present Spain as an authoritarian regime like Turkey. If the objective is to reconcile and try to make the independence movement less and less strong, the pardon is a worthwhile political measure, they point out in the Government.

The battle with the opposition will be tough but the Executive believes that both in Catalonia and in the rest of Spain the majority of citizens are committed to seeking solutions to the country's biggest political problem since democracy was recovered.

The rejection in any case will not come only from the opposition. The first doubts have already appeared in the PSOE. Former President Felipe González pointed out on Wednesday night on Antena 3 that "under these conditions," he would not grant a pardon, because the prisoners do not recognize the legitimacy of Spanish justice. “On the Catalan issue, I think that politics should have been done before reaching the judges. And I don't think the prisoners have to repent. But we do assume the laws ”, he finished later. Another socialist, the president of Extremadura, Guillermo Fernández Vara, also opposed pardons, although with nuances. “It is clear that those who do not want to be pardoned should not be pardoned because they do not respect or believe in the laws that make it possible.And it is also evident that the problems that our country has of building a model of coexistence will not be resolved as long as no one wants to, "he declared on his Twitter account.

Sánchez thus accelerates the attempt to reunite in Catalonia that will mark this second stage of the legislature, while the Government of ERC and Junts maintains its roadmap to achieve an agreed referendum and amnesty. The head of the Government will call Sánchez "in the next few days" to resume the dialogue table as soon as possible, as explained by Aragonès himself this Wednesday, at the press conference after the first Executive Council he has chaired.

The Republican insisted on Wednesday that he only sees possible that this last point goes through a "referendum in which Catalan society can decide its political future." Although the Junts agrees to give a chance to the dialogue initiated by the Republicans and the PSOE, the Republican ranks are aware that it is up to them to maintain the momentum. In short, Aragonès hopes to convene the National Agreement for Aminsty and Self-determination, a forum made up of Catalan entities, parties and institutions that share this formula and that will allow to give solidity to the proposal that is brought to the dialogue table, when it is held. .

Esquerra, in addition, has maneuvered to secure the reins of the first line with the dialogue with the Government. In the distribution of the Executive that took office this Wednesday, the Republicans assume the competences of Institutional Relations. These will be under the umbrella of the Department of the Presidency. The last mandate was in Foreign Action, now a department of Junts. That gives them the key to convene the bilateral commission with the Government and to be able to work on pending transfers and competition or financing problems. Of course, more day-to-day issues and framed in very specific issues, such as infrastructures or money for social programs such as dependency, will remain in the hands of your partner's departments.

There will also be a change in the approach of the Generalitat Delegation in Madrid. Aragonès will place Ester Capella, former Minister of Justice there. The former deputy in Congress will return political weight to a position that had been diluted in the last executives and with all the intention of giving her the ability to dialogue on many issues.