Tuesday's crucial hearing in Luxembourg will end up defining whether Spain was able to implement a political amnesty after agreeing it with pro-independence parties, and whether that is in conflict with the European Union law and values.
During yesterday's hearing, significant disagreements emerged as the European Commission's representative strongly criticised the amnesty law, while lawyers for the defendants, the State Attorney's Office, and the Public Prosecutor argued in favour of its legality, as per reported by Eldiario.
The CJEU will examine whether Spain's Organic Amnesty Law, which pardons embezzlement and terrorism offences related to the procés, falls within EU law, and thus challenges its real scope. This affects both members of the CDR (Committees for the Defence of the Republic, translated from its Catalan acronym) and senior officials involved (Puigdemont, Junqueras, Mas).
The European Commission has argued that the law does not respond to a real general interest, but to a political agreement (PSOE, Junts and ERC) for the current PM to obtain an investiture, and considers it contrary to European values. Along these lines, the EC has warned of the danger of establishing a "self-amnesty" (a law to guarantee political impunity in power) and questions whether this violates the rule of law and judicial independence.
Luxembourg also questions the time limits (2 months to apply the amnesty) and particularly the exclusion of certain terrorist offences if there was no death or torture, in case the law is too broad or vague with respect to the European anti-terrorism directive.
After yesterday's hearing, the case is now ready for judgment, though it will take several months for the EU Court of Justice to issue a final decision. As with previous chapters of the procés, developments are being closely watched in various regions across Europe that are either independent or seeking independence.