With the endorsement of the European justice system for the amnesty, the secretary general of Junts, Jordi Turull, raised a glass of cava on Thursday before the party leadership: “May the next toast, here or on Mallorca street, be made by the president and the consellers.” Junts has gotten used to changing headquarters but struggles with the physical absence of the leader. Carles Puigdemont joined the meeting remotely, like Lluís Puig and Toni Comín, but did not appear in public. He limited himself to cooling down his return to Catalonia. The return of the Junts leader is today the only wildcard for the party in a pre-electoral scenario and with polls against them. Being a kingmaker party no longer adds value and the Puigdemont effect is an unknown.
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The momentum Puigdemont has marked on the calendar more than half a dozen times since the amnesty was approved in June 2024 and, after the European endorsement, the future of the former president, Oriol Junqueras, and the rest of the ex-consellers with ongoing judicial cases depends on a Supreme Court prone to legal extravagances. Distrust extends to the Constitutional Court, not because there are doubts about the endorsement of the amnesty – it has already ruled in favor three times, though not unanimously – but because Junts believes the response to the appeals for protection has been delayed for political purposes.
There, Junts hints at the connection between José Luís Rodríguez Zapatero as a negotiator on behalf of the Government and the president of the Constitutional Court, Cándido Conde-Pumpido. The application of the amnesty tops all lists of breaches in the relationship between Junts and the PSOE, and Puigdemont’s defense reiterates that there are no legal reasons to subordinate his decision, first to the European endorsement and now to the holidays. There would be political reasons: Who wants to manage the image of Puigdemont’s return?
The former president and Junqueras contacted each other on Thursday after what they consider “an obvious defeat” of the State was confirmed, but each is working on their own narrative. In Junts, they have digested the expected “victory” with “sobriety” in form, aside from the toast: the distance from the Government is reaffirmed and it is used to nurture the recovered complicities with the PNV, as demonstrated by the public support of the lehendakari, Imanol Pradales.
The toast “will come,” they maintain in ERC. Junqueras’s appearance backed by the leadership and officials sought to offer the image of a present leader, in contrast to Puigdemont, for whom he had a mention in his speech. The reference is not trivial. They also sought to convey the image of a formation sewn back together around its president, with permission from Gabriel Rufián, the absent one in the republican staging.
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The CJEU ruling gives more arguments than expected to the defenses of the independents. For now, it limits the creativity of the Court of Auditors and the National Court, the main recipients of the ruling. The success does not prevent even syntactic analyses to determine if an adverb can lead to a new delay in the amnesty of the thirty affected in the Court of Auditors.
The clash between judges and Sánchez has Puigdemont and Junqueras as hostages
The victory is “unappealable,” they maintain, but they also admit that, by going to European justice, magistrate Elena Hernáez has achieved one of her objectives: “Two more years have passed.” And now it’s nine. Now, the defenses are considering whether to urge the application of the law. It remains to be seen if Hernáez, who went to the CJEU the same day the law was published in the BOE, now acts with the same speed.
Discounting the Constitutional Court’s approval from October, the Supreme Court is another matter. The CJEU ruling narrows spaces, but the Criminal Chamber’s ability to prolong the conflict remains unchanged. “No one can prevent it,” they admit in the independentist ranks. While waiting, Junqueras calls for “responsibility” to squeeze out a painful legislature and expand his list of achievements; and Junts feeds its disenchantment with Sánchez. The unknowns to resolve now are when Puigdemont returns and who manages it from Moncloa. Sánchez has the electoral button and the Supreme Court, judicial ingenuity. A mano a mano that has the independentist leaders and their political future as hostages.
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