Junts, the party led by Carles Puigdemont, has increasingly broken with the government in Spain's parliament, at times aligning with the Partido Popular (PP) and Vox. Its seven deputies have backed government measures in some votes and joined the PP on others, unsettling the ruling coalition and its traditional allies. The party's parliamentary use has grown as Pedro Sánchez's government struggles to maintain reliable support.
In one recent session, Junts' seven deputies backed the government bloc on several general-interest decrees and laws. They also joined the PP in supporting a motion that criticized the government's stability, though it stopped short of demanding immediate elections. The mixed approach has made Junts' position difficult to predict: its votes shift from week to week, and sometimes within the same session.
The volatility intensified after Junts withdrew reliable support for Sánchez in October 2025, leaving the government without a stable majority. The party cited frustration over unfulfilled agreements and adopted a more independent, tactical approach in Congress. Since then, it has backed seven PP-sponsored motions or non-binding proposals, six of them after the split. In the current legislative term, Junts has voted with the PP on 13 royal decrees related to social issues; Vox joined them in six cases. The minority government's continued reliance on the extended 2023 budget has made individual parliamentary votes more consequential.
Government partners, including the PSOE and Sumar, are closely watching the developments. Junts' shifting stance carries added weight because the amnesty remains both a legal process and a basic political issue in relations between Sánchez's government and Catalan parties. Organic Law 1/2024 on amnesty for institutional, political and social normalization in Catalonia took effect on 11 June 2024. It covers criminal, administrative and accounting liability linked to the independence process, with courts deciding how it applies in individual cases.
On 16 July 2026, the Court of Justice of the European Union ruled that EU law did not categorically prevent Spain's amnesty law. It rejected the argument that the law necessarily harmed the European Union's financial interests, while recognizing limits on how its provisions may be applied. The ruling did not automatically end proceedings in Spain: domestic courts remain responsible for deciding whether specific charges and cases fall within the law. So the decision did not, by itself, settle the legal position of Puigdemont or former Catalan president Artur Mas.
The ruling followed a Spanish Constitutional Court decision on 26 June 2025, which upheld the amnesty in principle by six votes to four while striking down two provisions. The Supreme Court has separately applied the law to former Catalan government officials Oriol Junqueras, Dolors Bassa, Jordi Turull and Raül Romeva, removing their remaining disqualifications and restoring their eligibility to stand for election and hold public office. These differing outcomes show that the amnesty is being implemented through individual judicial decisions, not one blanket measure.
Puigdemont's case remains distinct. Spain's Supreme Court has continued to refuse to apply the amnesty to the embezzlement charge against him, and an arrest warrant remained active as the issue awaited further consideration by Spain's Constitutional Court. The European ruling addressed the law's compatibility with EU law; it did not determine how Spanish judges must classify the alleged conduct in his case. That distinction keeps the judicial consequences for Junts' leader central to the party's political calculations.
PP leader Alberto Núñez Feijóo has also adjusted his strategy. In a recent interview on El Hormiguero, he said Junts' recent moves would have been unthinkable just months earlier. Feijóo has shifted away from direct attacks on Puigdemont and stepped up pressure on other government allies, including the PNV and Gabriel Rufián of ERC. Junts has found common ground with the PP on economic policy, from tax reduction to housing, and often takes a more conservative stance than the Basque PNV.
Voting records from the current session show Junts has supported PP initiatives 34 times, opposed them 36 times and abstained on 25 occasions. On government or Socialist Group proposals, it has voted in favor 29 times, against nine and abstained 13 times. Junts says its changing approach reflects what it calls government disloyalty, and that it is now excluded from basic legislative discussions.
During a recent control session, Prime Minister Sánchez used a question from PNV spokesperson Maribel Vaquero to address Junts indirectly, stressing the need to fully implement the amnesty law. In the same session, ERC's Gabriel Rufián reminded Junts that the PP, with which it now sometimes aligns, had previously sought to outlaw the party and jail Puigdemont. He referred to the application of Article 155 during the Catalan crisis.
The amnesty has reportedly affected approximately 400 people connected with the independence process, while a separate count identified 164 people still awaiting trial before the European ruling. The figures cover different procedural groups and are not interchangeable. The law covers conduct linked to the independence campaign between 2011 and 2023, extending beyond former regional officials to a wider range of criminal, administrative and accounting proceedings.
The European ruling has heightened the stakes around Junts' parliamentary decisions, but it did not dictate the party's votes or resolve Puigdemont's case. Its future stance will depend on how domestic courts apply the amnesty and on its broader assessment of agreements with Sánchez. With seven deputies able to influence basic votes in a fragmented parliament, Junts remains an unpredictable force in the legislature.
