A few months back, José Manuel Bermúdez, the mayor of Santa Cruz de Tenerife representing the Canary Coalition, had already hinted at this move. Recently, he drafted a letter formally requesting the Ombudsman, Ángel Gabilondo, to file a constitutional appeal against the Amnesty Law. As the mayor, Bermúdez acknowledges his lack of authority to do so.
In December, the City Council’s Legal Services advised the mayor, following a request initiated by himself, that he did not possess the right to interfere in a law that was then still under consideration in the Congress of Deputies. They also clarified that once the law was published in the BOE, the prerogative to challenge it lay solely with the President of the Government, 50 senators, 50 deputies, or the Ombudsman. Bermúdez has opted to urge Gabilondo via a letter to contest this law, which had been sanctioned by an overwhelming majority in the Congress of Deputies.
Bermúdez, in his letter, argues that his plea “is rooted in the blatant violation of the 1978 Spanish Constitution by the law, which undermines the rule of law and key principles such as legal certainty, the equality of all Spaniards, and judicial independence and exclusivity. Consequently, a law that should, by nature, be universal and not wielded as a political tool, is transformed into a privilege for a select few.”
He further elaborates, stating, “The law was rejected by the Senate following an unprecedented institutional clash in our Democracy, substantiated, among other documents, by those from the Senate’s legal advisors, who also cast aspersions on its constitutionality and the clash it creates with the legal framework of the European Union.”
“This incident is yet another illustration of the societal divide and institutional discord perpetuated by the law,” he concludes.
The law was sanctioned on the 30th of May with an overwhelming majority of 177 votes in favour and opposition from the PP, Vox, UPN, and CC.
