Carles Puigdemont is drawing to a close in his final days as an MEP with his sights set on the Catalan elections, in which he aspires to once again preside over the Generalitat. But his eventful European political career, plagued by judicial appeals, is still going strong. Although it hardly has any impact anymore, because it is about to close the Brussels chapter, the lawyer general of the Court of Justice of the EU (CJEU) has given it a boost this Thursday by considering that it was a mistake that it was prevented from taking its seat. in July 2019 and propose that the decision of the then president of the European Chamber Antonio Tajani to deny him and Toni Comín access to European legislative bodies be annulled.
With his decision, the then president of the European Chamber “questioned the electoral results officially proclaimed” by the Central Electoral Board on June 13, 2019, reasons the CJEU lawyer Maciej Szpunar, whose opinion is not binding, but usually gives clues. of where the European court will point when it rules on the matter. In this way, Szpunar adds, Tajani “gave effect to the suspension of the prerogatives of Messrs. Puigdemont and [Toni] “Comin arising from their status as members of the European Parliament, in violation of Union Law.” As he underlines, “no provision of this Law authorizes a Member State to suspend the prerogatives of the members of the European Parliament.”
The opinion of the CJEU lawyer contradicts the first instance decision of the General Court of the EU (TGEU) of July 2022, when it declared Puigdemont and Comín's appeal to Tajani's decision inadmissible when considering that the then president of the European Parliament had limited itself to taking note of the legal situation of the two politicians. Both appealed this decision, which has given the opinion of lawyer Szpunar favorable to their cause, a first boost for the independentists.
Puigdemont, who with this step says he has confirmed his strategy of going to European justice to confront the Spanish decisions against him, has stated from the European Parliament in Brussels that the opinion of the CJEU lawyer shows that “both the European Parliament and the “Spanish authorities violated fundamental rights of European citizens” by preventing them from accessing their seats. “They have put all possible obstacles to our work. If the lawyer's opinion is confirmed, it will be the confirmation of a very serious violation of fundamental rights,” he declared to journalists in the middle of the plenary session being held these days in the Belgian capital, the penultimate of this legislature. Shortly before, he had indicated on social networks that if the CJEU ends up endorsing the opinion of the attorney general, “someone will have to give explanations for violating fundamental rights of European voters, making partisan use of Union institutions such as Parliament.” European”.
The European legislature of Puigdemont and Comín, who now aspires to renew his mandate in Brussels and has just been nominated as head of the Junts list, has been full of surprises since his election, in the European elections of May 26, 2019. Just a few Days before the legislature started, Tajani decided, at the end of June of that year, to refuse to recognize their status as MEPs. According to him, he could not treat them as future members of the European Parliament because their names did not appear on the list of elected candidates officially notified by the Spanish authorities (they would end up assuming their position six months later).
The reason was that, although Puigdemont and Comín appeared on the list of Spanish candidates elected to the European Parliament issued by the JEC on June 13, in the notification sent by the Spanish electoral body to Brussels four days later their names had disappeared, given that the JEC concluded that they could not be MEPs because they had not personally attended to abide by the Constitution in Congress, as required by law, to avoid being arrested when setting foot on Spanish soil. Consequently, Tajani informed the two affected parties by letter on June 27, 2019 that he could not accept them as MEPs under these conditions. “It appears that their names are not on the list of elected deputies officially communicated to the European Parliament. Consequently, and until further notifications from the Spanish authorities, I am not currently in a position to treat them as future members of the European Parliament,” he explained in the letter.
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For the CJEU lawyer, the “main error” of the European Court of First Instance is “not having considered that the letter of June 27, 2019 contained the final decision of the President of the European Parliament to ignore the proclamation of June 13, 2019.” June 2019, by which, in accordance with the Junqueras Vies ruling, Puigdemont and Comín had acquired the status of members of Parliament.” In its ruling on the Junqueras case, issued in December of that same year, the CJEU considered that the former president of ERC should have been recognized as an MEP, a consideration that finally made it easier for Puigdemont and Comín to take possession of their minutes as MEPs for six months. after the legislature has begun.
Also from the European Chamber, Ciudadanos MEP Jordi Cañas and Carlos Carrizosa, rival for Cs de Puigdemont in the race for the presidency of the Generalitat and visiting Brussels, have rejected the opinion of the CJEU lawyer. “Puigdemont should never have been an MEP because a criminal cannot defend principles that he violated,” declared Cañas, who is confident that the Court's ruling, which could arrive in the coming weeks, will not follow the lawyer's line. “We have come to Brussels to stop Mr. Puigdemont and next March 12 all Catalans have to stop him,” Carrizosa said on his behalf, visiting the European Parliament.
In their appeal, the still Catalan MEPs also appealed the decision taken on May 29, 2019 to deny the “special reception service” to the newly elected members and also prevent them from being accredited until their election was officially confirmed. There the CJEU lawyer considers that “the allegations against the instruction” of Tajani “are unfounded.”
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