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"The signals from the government in Madrid are contradictory," warns German newspaper Neues Deutschland. The Berlin-based daily has this Sunday focused a story on the ongoing efforts to form a new Spanish government, stressing that Pedro Sánchez's Socialists are sending mixed messages to Catalan pro-independence party ERC, in the wake of last Thursday's EU court ruling in favour of jailed Catalan politician Oriol Junqueras.

"On the one hand, deputy prime minister Carmen Calvo said on Saturday that Spain had to implement the European Court of Justice ruling," notes the paper. However, it adds that "public prosecutors refuse to release Oriol Junqueras and want to revoke his status as an MEP". The newspaper takes the opportunity to emphasize that the prosecution service in Spain has a relationship with the government.

"Even if the government implements the EU court ruling, negotiations will not be easy," says the article, which emphasizes that ERC is not "moving away from unilateral options." Thus, it states that the party is "waiting for clear signals". "First of all, the opinion of Spain's State Solicitors on the EU ruling: if the verdict is not recognized and Junqueres is not released, negotiations are at a dead end."

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The article also echoes ERC's message to Pedro Sánchez: "There can be no political dialogue without an amnesty." Under Spanish law, an amnesty can be granted to cancel all offences in relation to a specific issue, but it requires parliament to pass a special law for the purpose.