Victoria Flores June 22, 2021
Pedro Sánchez, during the Council of Ministers that approved the pardons of the ‘procés’. / POOL / EPC
International press echoes the pardons to highlight the division of the Spanish population and the will of the Spanish Government to draw closer together
Different international media outlets have echoed this Tuesday the decision of the Spanish Government to approve pardons for the procés prisoners. After Pedro Sánchez announced on Monday at the Liceo that they would be approved today, media such as Al Jazeera or The Guardian have wanted to address the issue in their international news pages. Most of them emphasize that the majority of the Spanish population is against this measure, although the majority of Catalans approve it.
However, the one who has given more importance to the release of Catalan politicians has been the British media Financial Times, which has devoted its editorial to talking about the decision of the socialist government. The London newspaper speaks of a referendum that “tore apart Catalan society” and of leaders who “trampled on constitutional norms and dispensed with the essential consent norms in a modern democracy.”
However, it does not hesitate to point out that the condemnation of the politicians “has done nothing to heal the wounds in a divided Catalonia or to help Spain find an agreement” in the region. That is why the British media has applauded the decision of the Spanish Government to pardon them, a decision that it describes as “laudable” and that it sees as a possibility to open a new way of “reconciliation and coexistence” in Catalonia. The newspaper also talks about the position that the Popular Party has taken and, although it agrees with Pablo Casado in his partisan criticisms of this decision, it also emphasizes that “it has no solutions to offer to a crisis that has polarized Spanish politics.”
Political solution
Al Jazeera speaks of Sánchez’s “controversial plans” to pardon the “procés” prisoners and highlights that this decision does not resolve the current situation in which former president Carles Puigdemont finds himself. In addition, like the Financial Times, the Qatari media also points out their possible political motivation, but highlights on this the positive consequences that pardons will have for both parties. The Guardian also says something similar, which collects the words of union and political solution that Sánchez pronounced in the Lyceum forum. The British newspaper also talks about how the Spanish right is totally against that measure and how they made it clear in Madrid earlier this month in Madrid.
For its part, The New York Times considers the measure as “an important olive branch” amid the social division in the country. It also indicates that this decision may take its toll on the Government due to criticism of the prisoners of the “procés” of an important sector of the Spanish population, although it also explains how the Socialist Party could benefit from these pardons, and they mention the possibility that Sánchez wins ” hearts and minds in Catalonia “.
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