The report prepared by the Committee on Legal Affairs (JURI) of the European Parliament recommends processing the requests sent by the Spanish Supreme Court and lifting the immunity of the former president of the Generalitat Carles Puigdemont and the former councilors Toni Comín and Clara Ponsatí so that they can be extradited and courts in Spain.
The document, coordinated by Bulgarian MEP Angel Dzhambazki, will be voted on by the European Parliament's Committee on Legal Affairs on Tuesday, and if approved it will be submitted to plenary next month.
The paper, advanced by ABC and whose content EL MUNDO has been able to confirm, develops what was expected.
Despite the fact that the case of the pro-independence politicians is very controversial, it has an unusual notoriety and its vote in the plenary session will have an enormous political load, the decision of the Legal Affairs committee is actually merely technical.
Or so it should be.
In the last legislature, the European Parliament examined 70 requests and only in five cases refused to lift immunity.
This is not a legal test.
The norms say that the petition can be rejected only if it is considered that they want to judge a deputy for their opinions or for their votes in the exercise of their functions.
Or if there is a case of fumus persecutionis, that is, when it is estimated that the motivation of the process is "to harm the political activity of a deputy and, consequently, the independence of the institution."
Therefore, the normal thing, statistically and procedurally, is that it is authorized, and more so if the petition is filed for a pending case with the Justice prior to the acquisition of the status of deputy and his immunity.
The process began more than a year ago, in January 2020, with the appointment of a speaker, something that is done on a rotating basis among the groups that are part of the Committee.
Later, it was decided whether to process the petitions separately or jointly, and the deputies chose to leave everything in the same hands and in a single report.
Last month, after a long delay due to the Coronavirus, the hearings were finally held with the three affected, each one individually.
And now the report that was sent yesterday to all the members of the Committee has been made.
It will be discussed behind closed doors on Monday and voted on Tuesday.
It is a good guide, but the result is not binding.
The plenary session of the European Parliament will vote on the decision, and there technical factors no longer come into play, but pure politics.
See which side gets the most votes among all groups.
The entire application process is necessary to reactivate the process of trying to extradite the three MEPs to Spain.
The Belgian Justice put his case on hold until the European Parliament decides on the matter, because having immunity recognized right now the Brussels courts could not and did not want to proceed.
Accepting the plea was a necessary step, but not necessarily a sufficient one.
The decision corresponds to the Court, and just six weeks ago it rejected for the umpteenth time the extradition of another former minister, Lluis Puig.
He is not an MEP, but he is also in demand.
His case progressed at a different pace, and the court considered that the Spanish request could not be attended, since it considered that Judge Pablo Llarena and the Spanish Supreme Court were not competent to carry out that Euroorder.
According to the criteria of The Trust Project
Know more
European Parliament
Carles puigdemont
Spain
Pablo Llarena Conde
Coronavirus
THE WORLD
Clara Ponsati
Toni Comín
Supreme court
Justice
CataloniaIlla and the independence movement call for mobilization to resolve the battle to three for the Generalitat
JusticeThe entry into the Hospital Isabel Zendal of the former manager of the PP Cristóbal Páez leaves the trial for 'box B' in the air
Covid-19Three consecutive PCRs for visitors to the UK
See links of interest
Work calendar
Levante - Atlético, live
Porto - Juventus, live
Seville - Borussia Dortmund
Novak Djokovic - Aslan Karatsev, live