Junts sees the endorsement of the amnesty and the end of Puigdemont's arrest warrant as "a victory for the independence movement that allows the return of the president of a country"

"Time has proven us right, Catalonia is moving forward," proclaimed the president of the Generalitat, Salvador Illa, a few minutes after learning of the Constitutional Court's endorsement of amnesty for the crime of embezzlement that weighs on seven leaders of the process, including the former Catalan president and leader of Junts, Carles Puigdemont. Shortly after, Supreme Court judge Pablo Llarena lifted the national arrest warrant for the former head of the Government and the former advisors of his Government Toni Comín and Lluís Puig.

In a press conference, the general secretary of Junts, Jordi Turull, described it as "a victory for the independence movement that allows the return of the president of a country."

As expected, the Plenary of the TC has approved by seven votes to five the sentence that protects the former councilor Dolors Bassa, for which the president of the body, Cándido Conde-Pumpido, has been the speaker.

Bassa's appeal for protection is the first that the court of guarantees considers against the decision of the Supreme Court not to grant amnesty for the crime of embezzlement of public funds due to the referendum of October 1, 2017. While waiting for the Supreme Court to apply the amnesty on this crime, Llarena's decision to withdraw the arrest warrant now definitively paves the way for Puigdemont's return, after almost nine years outside of Spain, and for Comín and Puig, also prosecuted and without trial.

Turull himself, the president of Esquerra Republicana, Oriol Junqueras and former counselor Raül Romeva are also waiting for the amnesty to be applied to them, since, despite the partial pardon in 2021, which freed them from prison sentences, they remain disqualified from public service.

From the headquarters of Esquerra, Junqueras has placed "the right to decide in Catalonia" as "the next step" after the endorsement of the application of the grace measure to the leaders of the process.

Along the same lines as Illa, the spokesperson for the Government, Sílvia Paneque, has assessed the decision of the Constitutional and the Supreme Court "very positively": "Finally, the application of the Amnesty Law has arrived, which had to be done and which we asked to be done diligently."

Paneque has confirmed that, when the time comes, Illa will receive Puigdemont at the Palau de la Generalitat as befits a former president, just as he did with the rest of his predecessors at the beginning of his term (except Pasqual Maragall for health reasons): Jordi Pujol, Artur Mas, Quim Torra and Pere Aragonès.

"This is not the end, it is the beginning of a stage of normality in which Catalonia will be able to move forward," concluded the PSC Government spokesperson in her press conference after the Executive Council.