In a ruling handed down on Thursday 26 September (case C-600/22 P), the Court of Justice of the European Union definitively dismissed the appeal lodged by Catalan pro-independence politicians Carles Puigdemont and Antoni Comín, which sought to condemn the refusal of the then President of the European Parliament, Antonio Tajani, to consider them as MEPs, since they were not on the official list of candidates elected in June 2019 that had been sent to him by the Spanish Central Electoral Commission.
Mr Puigdemont and Mr Comín, who were the subject of an arrest warrant, risked being arrested if they went to Spain to take the oath of office following their election to the European Parliament.
In July 2022, the General Court of the EU dismissed the two plaintiffs’ action, ruling it inadmissible on the grounds that the refusal of the President of the European Parliament, served in a letter dated 27 June 2019, did not constitute a challengeable act (Case T-388/19 - see EUROPE 12988/29).
In its judgment, the Court dismissed the appeal lodged by Mr Puigdemont and Mr Comín. In its view, the General Court correctly ruled that the President of the European Parliament could not depart from the list sent by the Spanish authorities, as he has no power to review the accuracy of that list, as otherwise the division of powers between the European Union and the Member States would be disregarded. Such a review is a matter for the national courts alone, where appropriate after making a reference to the Court of Justice for a preliminary ruling, or it is for the Court of Justice, when hearing an action for failure to fulfil obligations.
The European judge is also of the opinion that the General Court did not err in holding that the instruction of the European Parliament’s President not to accredit any MEPs in Spain until the official confirmation of their election was not the reason why the two plaintiffs were unable to sit in Parliament.
Lastly, for the Court, the fact that Mr Tajani did not exercise his discretion to take an initiative as a matter of urgency to confirm the privileges and immunities of Mr Puigdemont and Mr Comín could not be the subject of an action for annulment, since the act in question was non-existent.
Noting the judgment, the European Parliament has asked its Legal Service to examine the judgment’s content and implications. Re-elected in June 2024, Mr Comín is not authorised to sit in the European Parliament until further notice.
To see the judgment of the Court of Justice: https://aeur.eu/f/dlo (Original version in French by Mathieu Bion)