Carles Puigdemont is still unable to take up his seat in the European Parliament

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Carles Puigdemont

Photo: OLIVIER HOSLET / EPA

The Catalan politicians Carles Puigdemont and Antoni Comín, who were elected to the EU Parliament in 2019, are still unable to take up their mandates.

The first instance court of the European Union (EuG) on Wednesday in Luxembourg dismissed a lawsuit against this as inadmissible.

Parliament was bound by the guidelines from Spain when making its decisions.

(Az: T?388/19)

Puigdemont was leader of the Junts per Catalunya (Together for Catalonia) party and one of the leaders in Catalonia's controversial referendum on secession from Spain in 2017. The Spanish judiciary wants the 59-year-old on charges of "seditious behavior" and "embezzlement of public funds." bring to justice.

To avoid this, Puigdemont went into exile in Belgium in 2017.

In May 2019, Puigdemont and his party colleague Comín were elected to the European Parliament.

Before taking up their mandates, however, Spanish law required them to take an oath on the Spanish constitution before the electoral commission in Madrid.

This was not possible for them because of the threat of imprisonment.

Puigdemont and Comín were therefore not included on the list of elected MEPs sent by Madrid to the European Parliament.

The then President of the European Parliament, the Italian Antonio Tajani, therefore informed the Catalans that he could not treat them as future members of the European Parliament.

The lawsuit directed against this was now dismissed by the ECJ in the first instance.

According to EU law, there is a certain separation of powers between the parliament and the member states in parliamentary elections.

According to this, Parliament would have to base its review of the mandates on the information provided by the member states.

Parliament President Tajani was therefore not authorized to review the validity of the exclusion of the two candidates.

Ultimately, Tajani did not make any contestable own decision, the ECJ found.

The action is therefore inadmissible.

Puigdemont and Comín can still appeal against this to the European Court of Justice (ECJ).

dop/AFP