Spain’s acting Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez on Wednesday defended his controversial amnesty deal for Catalonia’s separatists in parliament a day before the Socialist leader seeks the endorsement of the chamber to form a new government.
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00:00 Hundreds of people gathered in central Madrid in another day of protests against Spain's
00:06 acting government.
00:08 Pedro Sánchez's Spanish Socialist Workers' Party signed a controversial deal granting
00:13 amnesty to Catalan separatists in a bid to secure support for another term in office.
00:20 As Euronews correspondent Jamie Balaf-Keth reports.
00:25 Sánchez has a loose majority for his re-election but he supports the deal with seven different
00:30 parties, especially Catalan separatists who have already announced that the mandate of
00:35 the future president of the government will last as long as his word lasts.
00:38 Sánchez defended the amnesty as part of a debate which comes ahead of his request to
00:43 form a new government.
00:45 He says clemency would promote co-existence after the failed Catalan secession attempt
00:50 of 2017.
00:51 "The amnesty we propose is perfectly legal.
00:56 It is in accordance with the constitution."
00:59 Legal or not, tens of thousands of people continue to protest against the plan.
01:05 The issue of amnesty was triggered by July's inconclusive election.
01:09 The conservative Popular Party finished first but without enough votes to form a government.
01:16 Sánchez has until November 27th to secure the backing of a majority of politicians.
01:21 "These protesters are not only protesting against the amnesty but also against the re-election
01:25 of Pedro Sánchez, whose government they consider illegitimate and to whom they accuse of giving
01:30 a coup d'état.
01:31 These are the dangerous theses of the far right that have been in a significant part of the
01:37 population.
01:38 In Madrid, Jamie Balaf-Keth, Euronews."
01:41 (whooshing)