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The European Parliament questions Puigdemont's seat again

2022-05-18T21:57:12.385Z


The European Parliament asks the Central Electoral Board to describe the situation in which the former Catalan president and three other pro-independence parliamentarians find themselves


The European Parliament has refused to validate the documentation of Carles Puigdemont, Clara Ponsatí, Jordi Soler and Toni Comín to achieve their definitive accreditation as MEPs.

The non-ratification comes because none of the four fugitive pro-independence politicians has gone through the process of swearing to the Spanish Constitution, an essential requirement in accordance with national law.

However, they do not lose the record for the moment.

In other words, they continue to be temporary MEPs and maintain all their powers, as explained this Wednesday by the president of the Legal Affairs Committee of the European Parliament, Adrián Vázquez, waiting for the Central Electoral Board, the highest Spanish electoral authority, clarify the situation of these parliamentarians.

The decision of the Legal Affairs Committee not to validate the credentials of the four Catalan MEPs has taken place after the process of ratifying the credentials of another 49 parliamentarians, some due to the replacement of casualties and others due to the readjustment caused by Brexit.

This is a procedure that normally does not have any problem.

In fact, as explained by the Spaniard Vázquez, parliamentarian for Ciudadanos, until now there had been no similar situation in the European Parliament.

The unprecedented situation of the fleeing MEPs has led the Legal Affairs Committee to request reports from the legal services of the European Parliament and external advice, and the conclusions in both cases would be "the same".

The commission has made the decision not to ratify credentials by 20 votes in favor and one abstention and to request clarifications from the Central Electoral Board in Spain to describe the legal situation in which the four find themselves.

Vázquez has pointed out that such a situation is not contemplated in the parliamentary regulations and it is up to the president of the institution, Roberta Metsola, to set the deadlines in which the Spanish authorities must respond.

Puigdemont and Comín became MEPs in January 2020 despite not having sworn to the Constitution, something they have not been able to do, since, like Clara Ponsatí, they have been fugitives from justice for almost five years.

They were able to collect the minutes after the decision of the Court of Justice of the EU (CJEU) that agreed with the former vice president of the Generalitat and leader of the ERC, Oriol Junqueras, ruling that he had acquired parliamentary immunity from the very moment he had been elected and not weigh him down with a final conviction, because, as that sentence says, "the condition of member of the European Parliament derives from the fact of being elected by direct, free and secret universal suffrage".

That decision did not benefit Junqueras because the sentence of the

procés

had already condemned him when the decision of the Luxembourg court arrived.

Instead, he did serve the then president of the European Parliament, the recently deceased David Sassoli, to open the door for Puigdemont and Comín.

Both became European parliamentarians, something that until then had been vetoed for not having completed the process of swearing the Spanish Constitution, a requirement that must be done in Madrid.

The ruling also favored Clara Ponsatí and Jordi Soler, who won the MEPs after the readjustment of seats caused by the United Kingdom's exit from the EU.

From the left, MEPs Toni Comín, Carles Puigdemont and Clara Ponsatí, on June 3, 2021 in Brussels. Jan Van De Vel (Europa Press)

The decision not to validate the credentials for now has no consequences for the four affected MEPs, since they continue to maintain their minutes and the powers that this entails (vote, salary, presence in committees...), at least until the Central Electoral Board responds to the commission.

Among the possible responses, Vázquez points out, is to declare the act vacant, as stated in the Organic Law of the Electoral Regime.

But the legal mess would not end here, since the General Court of the EU has yet to resolve an appeal filed three years ago by Puigdemont and Comín.

In it, the escaped politicians demand the annulment of the European Parliament's decision not to recognize their status as deputies as soon as the legislature opened, in June 2019, because the Central Electoral Board had notified the chamber that they did not meet the conditions required in the Spanish norm.

Source: elparis

All news articles on 2022-05-18

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