• The sentence: Oriol Junqueras had to have been MEP and enjoy his immunity, according to European Justice
  • The consequence: The European Union allows Carles Puigdemont to avoid complying with the Constitution
  • Procés.The State Advocacy asks that Junqueras be allowed to leave prison and go to the European Chamber to collect the MEP Act

The delegation of Citizens in the European Parliament has sent to the president of the institution, David Sassoli , a letter rejecting - from a legal analysis of the ruling of the Court of Justice of the EU - that Catalan independence leaders Carles Puigdemont and Toni Comín can access their seat in the Eurocamara in January.

The letter arrives hours after the State Advocacy has asked the Supreme Court to comply with the December 19 ruling of the Court of Justice of the European Union. In it, the Court determined that Oriol Junqueras - in provisional prison since 2017 - had the right to immunity from the moment he was elected MEP in the May elections and should have been able to leave the prison to collect his minutes.

Although the consequences for Junqueras remain unknown, the decision of the Court of Justice has allowed Carles Puigdemont and Toni Comín, also elected MEPs in the last May elections, to access a provisional accreditation while the legal services of the institution examine their case.

The letter sent by the six MEPs of the Citizens in the European Chamber, based on a legal report from a technical team coordinated by the former president of the Catalan Law Council Pere Lluís Huget , and to which EL MUNDO has had access, argues against that both independentistas leaders are members of the Parliament of full right.

Citizens believe that the Luxembourg ruling answers a very specific question from the Supreme Court on immunity to collect the Junqueras act, then in provisional detention. They understand, therefore, that this is not applicable to Puigdemont and Comín. The Catalan leaders were not in custody, but refused to go to swear the Constitution and collect their minutes to avoid being arrested in Spain, where it weighs on an arrest warrant against them.

"In a situation of procedural rebellion"

"The independentistas have tried to sell this very specific immunity as if it were impunity for the crimes they have committed in Spain," said Luis Garicano , leader of the orange formation in the European Parliament. "Puigdemont and Comín are in a situation of procedural rebellion, they are escaped from justice, it would be a shame that they could be MEPs. If they are credited as MEPs the damage to the image of the European Union in Spain would be very serious," he added.

Although the ruling answers a preliminary ruling on the Junqueras case, the Court's examination of the privileges and immunities of MEPs is much more general. In fact, in its ruling, Luxembourg clarifies that "the members of the European Parliament enjoy immunity before their term begins." As the Court clarified then, this condition is acquired at the same time that "a person who has been officially proclaimed elected to the European Parliament".

But Citizens alleges that although Comin and Puigdemont had the right to immunity, they were already prosecuted for crimes of sedition and embezzlement of public funds before running for elections to the European Parliament. That is, the eventual request for the lifting of his immunity would not be applicable in this particular case. "The prior authorization of the respective Chamber is necessary to charge or prosecute the interested party, and not when, as in the present case, such prosecution (accusation) has already taken place previously," they explain in the letter.

David Sassoli (right), President of the European Parliament, with his predecessor, Antonio Tajani.REUTERS

Avoid law fraud

"Such a provision in national law avoids the fraud of the law by a candidate in an election that seeks to convert the privilege of immunity to guarantee the independence of Parliament into impunity for the personal benefit of the interested party," argue the orange MEPs.

But not only that. Citizens believe that even if the European Parliament considers that both have the right to access their seat, the decision cannot be automatic, as this would affect the scrutiny powers of national authorities that must check if there is any incompatibility for the position of the MEPs.

"It is not a formality, but the need for national authorities to verify compliance with European Union law and national law," they explain in the letter. "It could be the situation that a deputy took possession of his seat and carried out his activity even incurring some of the causes of incompatibility provided for in the legislation of his country."

Furthermore, they understand that the preliminary ruling that has given rise to the controversy was presented by the Supreme Court in reference to the case of Junqueras, not that of Puigdemont and Comín, which have an open cause in the EU General Court . A decision on his case by the European Parliament, they warn, "would pose a real risk that Parliament will now take a decision that openly contravenes what the General Court establishes for this same case."

Citizens ask Sassoli to take into account the conclusions of the legal report when making a decision in this regard. "Only in scrupulous respect for judicial decisions and procedures and in rigor when interpreting them objectively and impartially will we live up to the high institutional responsibility that European citizens have conferred on us as their representatives," they insist.

The acting President of the Government, Pedro Sánchez, "has put the institutions at the service of the independentists," said Garicano, for whom "this letter has two objectives: to defend the interests of Spain and safeguard the image of the European Union."

The legal services of the European Parliament work against the clock. The sentence arrived on December 19, the institution reopens its doors at the beginning of the year and on January 13 the first session of 2020 will take place. Sassoli acknowledged before the MEPs, meeting in session in Strasbourg that same Thursday, that the decision "It had a direct impact on the composition of the institution" and warned that it would not accept any challenge to the standards. However, how to interpret the rules after the Court ruling remains the issue.

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  • European Parliament
  • Citizens
  • Supreme Court
  • Toni Comín
  • Carles Puigdemont
  • European Union
  • Pedro Sanchez
  • Oriol Junqueras
  • Politics

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