The European Union’s highest court has ruled that Spain’s controversial amnesty law for those involved in Catalonia’s failed independence drive is compatible with EU legislation, handing a significant legal and political victory to Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez’s government.
In two judgments delivered by the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) on Thursday, judges concluded that EU law does not prevent Spain from adopting the amnesty, which was approved in 2024 after being negotiated between Sánchez’s ruling Socialist Party (PSOE) and Catalan pro-independence parties. ALSO READ: Controversial Catalan amnesty law gets final approval in Spanish Congress.
The amnesty law – officially termed the ‘Organic Amnesty Law for the Institutional, Political and Social Normalisation in Catalonia’ – enabled Sánchez to remain in office following Spain’s inconclusive 2023 general election and was presented by the government as a means of easing tensions after Catalonia’s failed 2017 secession attempt. ALSO READ: The PSOE and Junts sign a pact that will guarantee investiture of Pedro Sánchez.
The legislation has remained one of the most divisive measures of Sánchez’s premiership, with Spain’s right-wing and far-right opposition parties fiercely opposing the law and organising large street protests in an unsuccessful effort to block it. ALSO READ: Thousands protest in central Madrid over government’s Catalan amnesty bill.
In its ruling, the Luxembourg-based court agreed with the Spanish government’s longstanding position that the legislation falls within the powers of EU member states.
‘EU law does not preclude that amnesty law. That law seeks to reduce institutional and political tensions and to facilitate a scenario for reconciliation,’ the court said.
Delivering the judgment, one of the CJEU’s judges added that EU law ‘(does not oppose) a law which, in order to reduce institutional and political tensions and facilitate a process of reconciliation, provides for the extinction of criminal liability’.
The court stressed that its review was limited to determining whether the legislation created systemic problems capable of undermining Spain’s judicial system or affecting the effectiveness of EU law. It concluded that it did not.
The judges also found that the amnesty does not harm the European Union’s financial interests or weaken EU counterterrorism legislation.
One of the cases before the court arose from proceedings brought by Spain’s Court of Auditors involving around 30 former Catalan government officials, including former regional presidents Artur Mas and Carles Puigdemont, as well as former vice-president Oriol Junqueras, over public spending linked to Catalonia’s foreign affairs activities and the 2017 independence referendum.
The court ruled that those issues did not affect the EU’s financial interests, stating that any possible impact on Spain’s national finances or its contribution to the EU budget was insufficient on its own to establish harm to the bloc.
‘In particular, an adverse effect on the financial interests of the Union cannot be established on the sole basis of the reduction in gross national income which could potentially be the result of the secession of part of a national territory,’ the ruling said.
The second judgment concerned Spain’s National Court and the so-called ‘Operation Judas’ investigation involving members of the Committees for the Defence of the Republic (CDR). The CJEU concluded that the amnesty does not undermine the effectiveness of EU counterterrorism rules, noting that European legislation does not impose specific limits on national amnesty laws and that Spain’s legislation excludes offences involving intentional serious human rights violations.
‘In line with its objective of reducing institutional and political tensions and facilitating a scenario for reconciliation, that law merely provides, a posteriori, for the absence of prosecution for certain offences committed in the sole specific context of the movement for Catalan independence, while excluding any amnesty for acts which intentionally caused serious breaches of human rights,’ the ruling stated. ALSO READ: Amnesty bill registered in Spanish Congress – full details.
The decision is expected to strengthen the legal standing of the amnesty, although its practical application in some cases remains unresolved.
The ruling could eventually pave the way for former Catalan president Carles Puigdemont to return to Spain before the country’s next general election, due by 2027. Puigdemont, who led Catalonia during the banned 2017 independence referendum and subsequent unilateral declaration of independence, has lived in self-imposed exile in Belgium ever since. ALSO READ (May 2024): Puigdemont will still seek to become Catalan president, despite ‘pro-Spain win’.
He still faces arrest in Spain over a separate embezzlement allegation that currently falls outside the scope of the amnesty. Spain’s Constitutional Court is expected to decide in the coming months whether the legislation should also apply to that offence.
The Spanish government welcomed Thursday’s judgment. Justice Minister Félix Bolaños said it confirmed that the amnesty law was ‘impeccable, constitutional and in accordance with EU law’, and called for its ‘full application’. ALSO READ: EU’s top court adviser says the controversial Catalan amnesty law complies with EU legislation.
Catalonia’s current regional president, the socialist Salvador Illa, also hailed the ruling as ‘very good news’, saying ‘Europe says yes to the amnesty and Catalonia says yes to the future’. He urged that the law now be applied ‘without subterfuge’, arguing that ‘there is no obstacle’ remaining. ALSO READ: Pedro Sánchez: socialist win in Catalonia ‘ends decade of division and resentment’.
Catalan pro-independence leaders likewise welcomed the decision. Esquerra Republicana (ERC) leader Oriol Junqueras described it as a ‘political victory’ and said there were ‘no excuses’ for not implementing the amnesty, adding that it should allow Puigdemont and other exiled leaders to return. He also said he hoped to be able to ‘take on any political responsibility in full freedom and with all his rights’, leaving open the possibility of standing for election again ‘if it is what is best for the country and for ERC’.
Junts per Catalunya (JxCat) secretary general Jordi Turull called the judgment a ‘resounding victory’ and said ‘Europe is telling the exiles that they should be at home’, while Puigdemont’s lawyer Gonzalo Boye argued there was ‘no longer any legal debate’ over the amnesty.
Spain’s right-wing opposition, the People’s Party (PP), said it had ‘absolute respect’ for the CJEU’s ruling, but insisted that it did not erase what it described as the ‘political responsibility’ of those behind Catalonia’s independence campaign.
Spain’s Constitutional Court said it would study the European judgment before ruling on pending constitutional appeals concerning the amnesty, while the National Court said it would first examine the CJEU’s decision before determining how it should proceed in the ‘Operation Judas’ case.
Background to Catalan political conflict
Nine Catalan politicians and activists were jailed for between 9-13 years by the Spanish Supreme Court in October 2019, convicted of sedition and misuse of public funds for their role in the 2017 illegal referendum, with the verdicts causing widespread protests across Catalonia. In June 2021, the nine walked free from prison, following pardons granted by the government led by Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez, but they remained banned from holding public office.
In late 2022, Spain passed a controversial criminal code reform that downgraded the two charges used against them, abolishing sedition and replacing it with that of aggravated public disorder, and also reducing the penalty for misuse of public funds.
Carles Puigdemont had led the government of Catalonia when it staged the referendum banned by Madrid and the courts, which was followed by a short-lived declaration of independence. He then fled to Brussels to avoid prosecution in Spain, and became an MEP.
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#ECJ: Judgments in Cases C-523/24 and C-666/24 on whether Spain’s Amnesty Law for Catalonia is compatible with EU law, including the protection of the EU’s financial interests and EU rules on combating terrorism. pic.twitter.com/bDQM3po3v4
— EU Court of Justice (@EUCourtPress) July 16, 2026
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