The Court of Justice of the European Union on Thursday dismissed an appeal by former Catalan President Carles Puigdemont and his ex-minister, Toni Comín, against the refusal of the President of the European Parliament to recognise them as MEPs in June 2019.
This ruling upholds a July 2022 decision by the EU General Court, which initially determined that the then President of the European Parliament, David Sassoli, could not deviate from the official list of elected members provided by Spanish authorities.
The Spanish authorities did not include the names of the two Catalan separatists, stating that after their election in May 2019, they failed to take the required oath to uphold the Spanish Constitution, as mandated by national election law.
Both Puigdemont and Comín were in exile in Belgium, sought for charges of sedition and misuse of public funds following Catalonia’s self-determination referendum in October 2017.
However, a CJEU ruling in December 2019, in the case of another Catalan separatist, Oriol Junqueras, allowed them to reclaim their status as MEPs in January 2020 for the 2019-2024 term.
Recently, the Spanish judiciary reaffirmed its refusal to apply an amnesty law for Catalan separatists to Carles Puigdemont, effectively maintaining the arrest warrant against him. The Constitutional Court of Spain is now expected to make a ruling on that law.
