History repeats itself. Re-elected MEP, Catalan Antoni Comín cannot have his status validated if he does not present himself in Madrid to the Spanish Central Electoral Commission and then appear on the official list of Spanish MEPs. But Carles Puigdemont’s former adviser, who has been exiled in Belgium since 2017, risks being arrested in Spain.
The Catalan independentist suffered the same misfortune in 2019. He gave a press conference in Strasbourg on Monday 15 July, on the last day of the 2019-2024 parliamentary term, to denounce this situation.
As he will no longer be able to hold office as of 16 July, Antoni Comín explained at the press conference that he would be returning to Brussels, where he will continue to represent his constituents in one way or another, pending a response from the European Court of Justice, to which he has turned.
According to the independentist, Roberta Metsola does not have the legitimacy to refuse him his seat, as she herself has not yet been re-elected President of the European Parliament.
The same situation, after the 2019 elections, allowed him and Carles Puigdemont to win their case before the EU General Court (see EUROPE 12397/6), against former European Parliament President Antonio Tajani, and to enter the Parliament in January 2020. (Original version in French by Florent Servia)