Bold step or betrayal? Spain's Socialist prime minister went to Barcelona on Monday to announce the conditional pardon of nine prominent Catalan separatists, jailed for organizing a banned 2017 independence referendum. With two years left in his mandate, Pedro Sanchez says he sees an opportunity, with the promise of dialogue to follow. He's ready to brave public opinion: a recent survey has more than six in ten Spaniards against clemency.
Sovereigntists denounce it as a sell-out. After all, they argue, you cannot pardon people who are not sorry. Meanwhile, at the other end of the spectrum, hardline Catalan separatists dismiss the move as window dressing or a pre-emptive save, since the European Court of Justice could soon strike down those long prison sentences handed down in Madrid.
Remember, it's Catalonia itself that seems irrevocably split between separatists and sovereigntists. Where is the common ground in a Spain where other regions enjoy varying degrees of autonomy? Nearly four years have passed since it all came to a head. So have conditions changed enough for some kind of breakthrough?
Produced by Alessandro Xenos, Juliette Laurain, Imen Mellaz and Jack Colmer-Gale.
