Puigdemont decries ‘sad day’ for European Parliament after losing immunity

Former Catalan president Carles Puigdemont has denounced the decision of the European Parliament to remove his immunity as an MEP as Spain attempts to extradite him.

On Monday, the parliament voted on Spain’s request for the immunity of Mr Puigdemont and two fellow MEPs to be waivered. The result, which was announced on Tuesday, saw 400 MEPs vote in favour of removing Mr Puigdemont’s immunity, while 248 voted against and 45 abstained.

Similar results were registered in the votes on the waiver requests for Clara Ponsatí and Antoni Comín, who were ministers in the government of Mr Puigdemont.

All three fled Spain in 2017 after a failed attempt to secede by the northeastern Catalan region and the supreme court wants to try them for sedition. Messrs Puigdemont and Comín also face charges of misuse of public funds.

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“Today is a sad day for the European Parliament,” Mr Puigdemont said after the result of the vote was announced. “We have lost our immunity but the parliament has lost more. And as a result European democracy has also lost out.”

He, Ms Ponsatí and Mr Comín said they will appeal against the lifting of their immunity before the European Court of Justice. The trio allege technical irregularities in the Spanish judiciary’s request for the waiver, as well as claiming they are victims of political persecution.

They also highlighted the fact that more than 40 per cent of MEPs did not vote for their immunity to be withdrawn.

All three were in Brussels when the vote took place. Messrs Puigdemont and Comín have been mainly based in Belgium since leaving Spain, while Ms Ponsatí has travelled between Brussels and Scotland, where she has held an academic post at St Andrew’s University.

The Spanish foreign minister, Arancha González, welcomed the European Parliament’s vote, saying it reflected “the solidity of the rule of law in Spain [and] respect for the work of the Spanish justice system.”

She also said the vote sent another message: “Catalonia’s problems are resolved in Spain, they are not resolved in Europe.”

Extradition process

The approval of the waiver paves the way for Spain to resume the extradition process that was interrupted when the three politicians became MEPs in 2019. However, there are still doubts about whether the process will be successful, given that the Belgian courts rejected an attempt to extradite another Catalan politician, Lluís Puig, in January.

With that precedent in mind, supreme court judge Pablo Llarena has decided to consult with the European Court of Justice before going any further with extradition proceedings.

Meanwhile, Monday’s vote has added to existing political tensions in Spain’s leftist coalition government, with the MEPs of the two main partners at odds. The Socialists of prime minister Pedro Sánchez voted to lift the trio’s immunity, while the MEPs of his junior partner Podemos voted against, in the latest of many recent disagreements between the two parties.

“Those of us from the political parties which made Pedro Sánchez prime minister have always said that we don’t agree with putting political conflicts in the judicial sphere,” said Podemos spokesman Pablo Echenique.