On Friday 26 November, the Vice-President of the General Court of the European Union once again rejected the request to suspend the lifting of the parliamentary immunity of the three Catalan separatist MEPs, Carles Puigdemont, Clara Ponsatí and Toni Comín, decided by the European Parliament in March 2021 (see EUROPE 12674/2) (case T-272/21 R).
According to the Vice-President of the General Court, the information provided by the three MEPs after Mr Puigdemont’s arrest in Sardinia in the autumn (see EUROPE 12799/17) did not constitute genuinely new facts in relation to his first appeal of July (see EUROPE 12773/19) that it would be likely to cause them serious and irreparable harm.
On the contrary, he notes, the fact that the Italian judiciary has released Mr Puigdemont shows that the judicial authorities do not intend to execute the European arrest warrants for the three MEPs until the Court of Justice of the EU has ruled on the Spanish Tribunal Supremo’s preliminary ruling (C-158/21) on the execution of these warrants in the context of the criminal proceedings initiated in Spain against the three politicians accused of sedition.
Contrary to what they claim, the Catalans do not, at this stage, run the risk of being handed over to the Spanish authorities, according to the Vice-President of the General Court. (Original version in French by Mathieu Bion)