Congressional lawyers see no “formal deficiencies” in the amnesty law proposal to be debated in the House of Commons and therefore support starting the process, as suggested by the SER and confirmed by this newspaper. In the legal report prepared by the lawyers, attached to the bill and which will be examined in the congressional committee tomorrow, Tuesday, it is argued that the standard registered last week by the PSOE alone “has formal deficiencies that make it impossible to allow it to be processed”. the debate of political groups.” The same Monday, the PP challenged the Chamber’s senior lawyer, Fernando Galindo, claiming that he was Director General and Undersecretary of State in the government of Pedro Sánchez and that he was married to the person who was Director General for Relations with the Cortes was until two years ago. weeks.
The lawyers’ text, signed by Galindo, contains seven conclusions. Firstly, the classification of the initiatives by the Council is not intended as a first judicial instance, i.e. as a kind of prior control of constitutionality, as determined by various judgments of the Constitutional Court before the processing of the laws of Catalonia and Euskadi. Secondly, the proposal has “formal deficiencies that would make it impossible to allow it to be processed”. The third refers to the historical basis and inadmissibility of the amnesty law proposal presented by the pro-independence parties in March 2021, which was not allowed to be processed at the time because, as lawyers now say, it was designed as a general pardon expressly prohibited by Article 62 of the Constitution.
The fourth conclusion of the congressional legal experts addresses this aspect, saying that the current proposal “has elements that distinguish it from the improper 2021 proposal” and distinguish it from a general pardon. The fifth article states that if there were other possible reasons for unconstitutionality, “these would arise not from a direct reading of any provision of the Constitution, but from an interpretation of it applied to the form of amnesty which the Court should conduct.” “Constitutional,” a doctrine that “has not yet been dictated.” The sixth article defends that “there do not appear to be sufficient elements in the Constitution or in constitutional jurisprudence to determine” whether the proposed law contradicts the Constitution. And the seventh ends by explaining that the Executive Board, a political body with a progressive majority of five members compared to the four members of the PP, is the one that must decide on this type of qualifications, which will be ratified tomorrow.
Vox, which has no deputies on the board, has already announced that it will file a complaint against the legal authors of this report and against the members of this body who recognize this classification as a possible crime of prevarication, because they denounce it They legitimize with it a “blow against the rule of law,” as its leader Santiago Abascal confirmed on Monday.
It is entirely possible that the PP will propose a written review of this Board decision before taking any other action. But before the lawyers’ report became known, the PP had already registered this Monday in Congress the request for the rejection of the Secretary General and senior lawyer of the Cortes, Fernando Galindo, with the intention that he would not be able to “implement the proposal”. Qualification technique of the organic amnesty law proposal.” The PP demands that Galindo’s appointment, formalized just a few weeks ago, be revoked because it understands that “it violates the legal principles of impartiality and objectivity,” since the lawyer is part of the government of Pedro Sánchez (he was a general). Director and Undersecretary) and is married to the person who was Director General for Relations with the Courts until October 30 last year. It is not the first time that a general secretary and senior lawyer of the Congress has come from or passed through different executive bodies, including during the PP’s term.
The PP is not ready to give up the political influence of its frontal opposition to the law amnesty of those accused of the Catalan independence process and will present this matter to all the institutions in which it is represented, including the Congress Planke. The Populars recall in their letter of rejection that Galindo was first Director General of Autonomous and Local Cooperation and then Undersecretary of the Ministry of Territorial Policy. He held this position until October 31, 2023, two days before he was appointed Secretary General of the Congress at the suggestion of the President of the Chamber, the socialist Francina Armengol. The PP therefore considers that the current senior lawyer – who has 13 years of experience and was unanimously appointed three times to various tasks in Congress, including within the mandate of the People’s Party – does not meet the requirements for this position.
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The PP links Galindo’s presence in government until two weeks ago to the preparation of the amnesty bill officially presented by the Socialist faction, but which the People’s Party assigns to the executive branch. Sources from the Chamber’s Presidium claim that Galindo had nothing to do with the creation of this rule and emphasize that there have been dozens of cases of lawyers who have previously worked with various executives.
The figure of Fernando Galindo will be crucial starting this Tuesday since, as senior lawyer and secretary general of the Congress, he will have to comment on the adoption and qualification of the amnesty law proposal so that its processing can begin. Since Minister Félix Bolaños even noted in a public statement that the amnesty bill could be “vehicled” as a bill – that is, “prepared and drafted by the government or that the executive at least had full knowledge of it”. And in this line of reasoning, the popular group concludes that “it is more than likely” that Galindo “knows the text registered in Congress or one of its earlier drafts” and that he is therefore “disqualified” from one to report on this matter.”
The Popular also questions the senior lawyer because he is married to Mercedes Cabrera, who until October 30 held a position in the government as director general for relations with the Cortes. The PP argues that, in accordance with the Law on the Legal Order of the Public Sector, that of senior civil servants and the Staff Regulations of the Cortes, Galindo should refrain from this matter because he does not have sufficient “objectivity and impartiality”.
The Popular Group recalls that on March 23, 2021, the former Secretary General of the Congress, Carlos Gutiérrez, presented a technical opinion on an amnesty law proposed by the ERC and other Catalan independence supporters, in which he reiterated that it should not be allowed and be impeached for a “blatant and obvious contradiction of the Constitution.” However, as EL PAÍS reported this Monday, in March 2018, the same senior lawyer prepared a report for the then president of the Chamber, the popular Ana Pastor, in which he not only took a different position, but even advised on the drafting of an amnesty law intended to grant the pardon an unspecified number of Civil Guardsmen who have been sanctioned or convicted for exercising their right to professional association.
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