ERC assures that it will take the case to the Court of Human Rights if the European Justice does not agree with the former vice president of the Generalitat
New judicial setback to the attempt by Oriol Junqueras to regain his seat in the European Parliament. The General Advocate of the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) has concluded this Thursday that the appeal of the former vice president of the Generalitat against the decision of the then president of the European Parliament, David Sassoli, who declared his seat vacant as MEP.
In his decision, the lawyer Maciej Szpunar endorses an opinion of the General Court of the EU -of December 2020- in which he considered that Sassoli did nothing more than transmit to the European Parliament information about a legal situation, derived from the decisions of the authorities Spanish. The order states that in October 2019, Junqueras “was sentenced to thirteen years in prison and as many others of absolute disqualification (…) including elective charges” for his participation in the process of the Catalan independence referendum. During the judicial process, the Catalan politician was elected a member of the European Parliament, but, “not having obtained permission to take the oath”, a requirement to take office, his seat was declared vacant by the Central Electoral Board.
In this way, the Advocate General considers the position of the President of the European Parliament to be correct. “Starting from the premise that eligibility is part of the electoral procedure regulated by the law of the Member States”, the European Parliament “has no competence to control national decisions”.
ERC reviews
After knowing the decision of the European lawyer, ERC has assured that it will resort to “other ways” to defend the seat of the leader of the formation if the CJEU does not agree with him. In a statement, the formation has criticized that the European Parliament “has the obligation to protect its elected members”, and considers that the Central Electoral Board failed to comply with European legislation and violated the principle of primacy of EU law.
They have also stressed that the opinion “is not binding” and that the final resolution of the European court must be awaited. However, they do not rule out opening a procedure for infringement of EU law against the State and have warned that if the CJEU endorses the withdrawal of Junqueras’ seat, they will go to the Human Rights Court in The Hague.
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