Overview
- The Spanish Supreme Court lifted the arrest warrant for Carles Puigdemont on Tuesday after the Constitutional Court validated that the 2024 amnesty covers embezzlement charges.
- The Constitutional Court’s decision follows a July ruling by European judges that upheld the amnesty as a tool to reduce institutional tensions and overturns an earlier Supreme Court view that excluded embezzlement.
- Carles Puigdemont hailed the move as a political victory from his Waterloo residence but did not announce when he will return to Spain.
- Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez praised the ruling as a chance to move forward for Catalonia, and opposition leader Alberto Núñez Feijóo condemned the amnesty as a ‘‘deception’’ and urged voters to punish the deal at the ballot box.
- The amnesty was the key concession that allowed Sánchez to form government in 2023 and was passed by Parliament in May 2024, so the court outcome is likely to shape debates and voter choices in the late-November snap elections.