The former president of the Generalitat Carles Puigdemont reacted with some distrust to the report of the advocate general of the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) who approved the amnesty law on Thursday: “Let’s not forget that the last word belongs to some judges who felt called to save the country”. The report, which only disputes the established times, underlines that the law was enacted “in a real context of political and social reconciliation” and rejects that it is a “self-amnesty”. For his part, Junts general secretary Jordi Turull assessed the CJEU’s announcement as a victory for those to whom the amnesty law has not yet been applied. “Today is a small procedural step, but it is a big step for the return of our exiles,” he said. Puigdemont’s lawyer, Gonzalo Boye, said the former Catalan president’s return to Spain is a “political decision” he must make, although he believes he will be able to return if the Court of Justice of the European Union ends up approving the amnesty law.
Puigdemont, in a message on For Puigdemont, this report “revealed the indecent strategy of delay and manipulation with the intention of blocking the application of the amnesty law in its entirety.”
Avui, the advocate general of @EUCourtPress revealed the indecent strategy of delay and manipulation with the intention of blocking the application of the amnesty law in its entirety, i.e. on everyone: from the wrongly accused terrorists to the accused — and in…
— krls.eth / Carles Puigdemont (@KRLS) November 13, 2025
For his part, the president of the Generalitat, Salvador Illa, expressed his satisfaction. “This is a resolution that represents a significant step and sets the framework for discussion,” he said in his closing speech. Catalonia looks at his cell phone, about the total solar eclipse on August 12th. “And that resolution – added Illa – says that the amnesty complies with European law. And I am happy about it. I ask once again that a law that is good for Catalonia and Spain be applied quickly and without subterfuge”. ERC leader Oriol Junqueras also has confidence that the Court will adopt the same position and “pave the way” for the Constitutional Court to apply the law. Junqueras stressed that “there has never been embezzlement, there has never been rebellion and there have never been accusations that have justified this judicial and criminal persecution, which has led many of our people to exile or prison.”
The Constitutional Court accepted at the beginning of October, by eight votes to four, the appeal of the leader of the Junts against the Supreme Court’s decision not to apply the amnesty to the crime of embezzlement, but the arrest warrant issued against him remains in force if his presence in Spain is detected. For Puigdemont the amnesty does not apply because “there is an instruction which some courts obey blindly, starting with the Supreme Court”. Puigdemont has government support for his return to Spain. The Minister of the Presidency, Félix Bolaños, reiterated that the “will of the legislator” was for the amnesty to cover “all leaders” linked to the independence process.
