Spanish Supreme Court judges on Thursday 9 January refused to allow Catalan separatist Oriol Junqueras to sit in the European Parliament.
The Court considers that it is not necessary to declare null and void the sentence for which Mr Junqueras was sentenced last December to 13 years’ imprisonment for sedition and embezzlement of public funds for having participated in the organisation of the referendum on self-determination (see EUROPE 12348/23). Therefore, the judges consider that the conviction leads to the exclusion from the status of MEP, which was nevertheless recognised by the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) last December (see EUROPE 12399/6) and conclude that it is not necessary to apply for a waiver of immunity.
Thus, the Supreme Court is in line with the decision of the Spanish electoral commission, which had refused to recognise Mr Junqueras’ parliamentary immunity at the beginning of January. The position of Spain’s highest legal body contradicts the decision of the European Parliament to accredit the other two Catalan separatists, Mr Carles Puigdemont and Mr Toni Comín (see EUROPE 12397/6).
“The Supreme Court ignored the decision of the CJEU and violated the independence and sovereignty of the European Parliament by denying immunity to the MEP Junqueres without even asking the European Parliament’s permission”, Meritxell Serret, Catalonia’s representative to the European institutions, told EUROPE.
This announcement also thwarts the election on Tuesday 7 January of Mr Junqueras as head of the European Free Alliance (EFA) and First Vice-President of the Greens/EFA group in the European Parliament (see EUROPE 12399/6).
“This will set a precedent for parliamentary immunity. As a Member of the European Parliament, are you free to act politically or can you be imprisoned for a crime of opinion?”, French MEP François Alfonsi (Greens/EFA), who was contacted by EUROPE, asked bitterly. The MEP denounced the asymmetrical treatment of parliamentary immunity depending on the Member State where the MEP is located, with Mr Puigdemont and Mr Comín being able to sit in the European Parliament, while Mr Junqueras remains imprisoned in Spanish jails.
The Greens/EFA group is expected to ask for an addition to the plenary session agenda next week at the opening of the session on Monday 13 January, he said.
Contacted by EUROPE, the European Commission remained on the sidelines. “As for all preliminary cases, it is for the referring national court to follow-up on the ECJ ruling. It is not for the Commission to comment on or interpret national courts’ decisions”, we were told. “The European Commission fully respects the Spanish Constitutional order, including the decisions of the Spanish judiciary.” (Original version in French by Pascal Hansens)