People hold up Estelada flags (Catalan separatist flag) during Catalonia's national day, 'La Diada', in Barcelona, Spain. File/Reuters

In a contentious vote, the lower house of Spanish parliament has on Thursday passed a bill with 178 voting for it and 172 against in a 350-member house. The conservatives are fiercely opposed to it, and the leftist minority Socialist government of Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez, dependent on Catalan separatist parties for support, pushed for it. The bill grants amnesty to those Catalans politicians and officials who participated in the 2017 referendum for independence where the voter turnout was just 43 per cent but 92 per cent of those who voted preferred secession. Yet, Catalonia declared independence but it collapsed when it could not garner international support. There were clashes between the national police and the protesters. Ultimately, the separatist leaders fled Spain, and many of them are still abroad.

Apart from the fact that Sanchez is looking support for his government, he has also been arguing that it is time to go beyond the insurrection and that there is need for national reconciliation. The conservatives have hit back saying that this is not reconciliation but submission. Even if the senate, the upper house, rejects the amnesty bill, then the lower house will have to pass it again to make it the law. The Catalan separatist parties in the Spanish parliament are seeking amnesty in return for support of the national government. It shows that in some ways that the separatist sentiment in Catalonia has taken a back seat. A former Catalan independence voter, Maite Ferrer, said during the national elections in 2023, “How could we be on our own? We need to be part of something bigger these days, of Europe and Spain.” There is then a rising sentiment that Catalonia must continue to be part of Spain thought the Catalans have for decades stoutly believed that they need to be independent.

The reason that the government of Prime Minister Sanchez has turned to the Catalan parties is well explained by Ana Sofia Cardenal, lecturer in politics at the Open University of Catalonia (OUC): “When the Spanish government needed Catalan support, they’d given in to Catalan demands.” And she had also placed the issue of Catalan demand for independence in the new global context. She said, “While Catalan independence in a globalized world made complete sense, in a world of pandemics, of war in Ukraine, of US-China rivalry – that de-globalised world may not be so friendly, particularly toward a small country like Catalonia.” There is then a change of situation and with it the mood and sentiment has also changed.

Perhaps this could be the right moment for reconciliation, and that is what the Spanish leftist parties and the Catalan separatist parties are trying to forge. What they want is more political and cultural autonomy for Catalonia. The Spanish conservatives are not willing to concede the demand for regional autonomy. In the United Kingdom, Scotland had been able to achieve political autonomy with its own parliament and executive. A similar compromise may not be possible in Spain because of the differences in political traditions and the democratic mode. For many Spanish conservatives, regional autonomy is seen as a door to secession. Catalans have also been proud of their distinct identity, language and culture, and they have preserved it through centuries of proud assertion. The conflict between the national government in Madrid, the capital of Spain, and Barcelona, the capital of Catalonia, has always been fierce. And it is unlikely to die out completely. But political pragmatism prevails and that is why Catalonia remains a part of a larger Spain. It marks political and cultural tension in Spain but it turns out to be a positive strain. The amnesty bill is to be seen in this larger historical context.