Spanish elections and politics III / Pedro Sánchez faces a new term as PM

[Antonio the Sixth]

Amnesty and a new autonomy status for Catalonia seems like the obvious way to put this whole mess behind us. I'm sure the neo-Francoist right will go apoplectic over it, but I'm confident that it would be a political winner for Sanchez in the long run.

[Antonio the Sixth]

Feijóo's investiture debate and vote is schedule for 26 and 27 September. If he fails, Sanchéz will get an opportunity and if he also fails, snap elections will be held during January 2024.

...why are they waiting an entire month to hold a parliamentary vote? You'd think government formation would be something the political system took with some sense of urgency.

[Antonio the Sixth]

PSOE and ERC have reached an agreement on the content of the amnesty law, which is still unknown. Possibly investiture will take place by the end of next week

Is Junts still digging its heels in or is there a reasonable chance that they'll sign off as well?

[Antonio the Sixth]

As expected, Puigdemont is "stretching the rope" as much as possible and delaying, or rather "derailing", Sanchéz investiture. He now wants a broader amnesty, which from what I understand involves corruption charges, something the PSOE has said it is a "red line".

We'll see how this unfolds.

F**king unbelievable. Catalan nationalists are truly the masters of shooting themselves in the foot.

[Antonio the Sixth]

As expected, Puigdemont is "stretching the rope" as much as possible and delaying, or rather "derailing", Sanchéz investiture. He now wants a broader amnesty, which from what I understand involves corruption charges, something the PSOE has said it is a "red line".

We'll see how this unfolds.

F**king unbelievable. Catalan nationalists are truly the masters of shooting themselves in the foot.

The exact opposite,  at least from the Junts/Puigdemont perspective. I have made my views on this clique clear already, so I will just restate their view.

Madrid is nothing. Catalonia is everything.  Whether it's just to get power, or whether they actually are determined hardliners,  Junts is the separatist/clean break party.  Some don't think they did anything wrong during the "referendum," and that it's results remain legitimate and Representative.  Far different from ERCs approach. 

To this end, their true position is accelerationism. They haven't exactly been secret about wanting Vox into government,  and restarting the Catalonia fights. Cause Junts wins those fights when it comes to nationalist voters, and they want more nationalists to support separatism.  So PSOE has to offer them a lot to continue legitimizing cooperation within Spain,  what is currently occurring,  and that price very well could just be prohibitively expensive.

So their plan is... to turn Catalonia into Northern Ireland ca. 1970?

I rest my case. Absolute idiocy.

[Antonio the Sixth]

With an agreement which sows distrust in the court system of a liberal democracy and explicitly states that the executive and legislative branches of government will investigate the conduct of the judiciary branch, whether this is electorally a bad move for the "good guys" should be the least of one's concerns.

Amnesty is a well-accepted means by which liberal democracies attempt to defuse social tensions so sharp they might otherwise tear them apart. Whether doing so is a good idea or not certainly depends on the specifics of a situation (I'm certainly not a fan of Togliatti's amnesty on fascist officials or Mitterrand's amnesty on the Algiers coup leaders, for example) but it doesn't "undermine the judiciary" in and of itself. The judiciary has done its job, but the will of the people is the ultimate sovereign.