Feijoo considers the amnesty of the Catalans a “deviation from the norm” and calls on deputies to have a “final reflection”

Spanish People’s Party President Alberto Nunez Feijoo on Tuesday said the amnesty for Catalan independents was a “legal and moral aberration” and asked the country’s MPs for a “final thought” before rejecting his nomination as prime minister.

“What independence requires is legal and moral deviation. But above all because it is a direct attack on core democratic values,” Feioo said at the start of the parliamentary debate and vote on his candidacy for prime minister after the Spanish elections. messages dated July 23.

Feijão, who on Tuesday again admitted that he lacks the support to be elected head of government, addressed directly MPs of the Socialist Party (PSOE) and the nationalist and independence forces of the Basque Country during a speech that lasted one hour and forty minutes. and Catalonia, asking them for a “final reflection” before “rejecting” their candidacy and subsequently making viable that of Pedro Sánchez, the current prime minister who is seeking reappointment.

Socialist Pedro Sánchez, Feijoo stressed, is ready to grant an amnesty to the politicians who led the unilateral declaration of Catalan independence in 2017 and open the door to a referendum on self-determination, which he considers an attack and disrespect for the Spanish Constitution. , the rule of law, the separation of powers and the will of the majority of Spaniards as expressed in elections.

The leader of the Spanish People’s Party (PP, right) assured that, like Sánchez, he could accept the pro-independence demand for amnesty and thus see his appointment as prime minister possible, but said he was not ready pay that price because he has “principles, limits and a word.”

Feijão stressed that the independence parties received 5.5% of the votes in the elections and that none of the other forces supported a vote in Spain with an amnesty and a referendum on independence in the electoral program.

Citing the historical leaders of the PSOE who opposed the amnesty and the period of the so-called “Spanish transition” from dictatorship to democracy at the end of the decade and in 1970, which was the result of agreements between the main parties of the country, Feij asked the deputies to have a “final reflection.”

To try to persuade them, he presented a government proposal based on six main “pacts of state”, inspired by the period of expanded agreements during the Spanish transition period and covering areas such as the reform of judicial institutions (to increase independence in relation to political power and partisanship), education, health care, economics, territorial organization in the autonomous regions of the country or water management.

“I want to offer my country an alternative that restores harmony, equality and collective ambition. (…) Each of us must choose the path that consists of accepting what the minority imposes, knowing that this means continuing to divide Spain into two parts or choose another in which we are mainly aware of the decisive moment that the nation is experiencing , and work accordingly, promoting the broad consensus that Spain needs,” Feijoo told 350 Spanish lawmakers.

Feijóo asked the nationalists and independence parties whether they believed the word of Sánchez, who, as prime minister, in the last legislature took decisions contrary to what he had promised, and who just a few months ago rejected the possibility of an amnesty because he considered that this would violate the Spanish Constitution.

“I will never say yes to everything, but I have no doubt that it would be positive for Catalonia and the Basque Country to have a government president who does not deceive all citizens. What makes you think that everything that is used today to satisfy your demands, will it not be used against you when it is no longer needed?” he said, addressing the independence parties and, in particular, the two center-right parties – “Together for Catalonia” (JxCat) and the Basque party. Nationalist Party (PNW).

The PP was the party with the most votes in the July 23 elections, and King Felipe VI of Spain has nominated Feijúo as a candidate for the post of prime minister, whose election will be voted on Wednesday and, in principle, also on Friday, with a second round envisaged Constitution of Spain.

If the failure of Feijó’s investiture is confirmed, the king of Spain will have to nominate a new candidate for the post of prime minister, with Sánchez repeatedly stating that he is available and has the conditions to gather the necessary support.