Spain, EU Court: ‘Revocation of Puigdemont’s immunity by the European Parliament is unlawful’

Brussels, 5 February (LaPresse) – The Court of Justice of the EU has annulled the European Parliament’s decisions to waive the immunity of Carles Puigdemont, Antoni Comín and Clara Ponsatí on the grounds that the appointment of the rapporteur responsible for the requests for waiver of immunity was contrary to the requirement of impartiality. Following the referendum on the self-determination of Catalonia (Spain) on 1 October 2017, the Spanish public prosecutor, the Spanish State Attorney and the political party VOX initiated criminal proceedings against several individuals, including Carles Puigdemont i Casamajó (then President of the Generalitat de Catalunya), Antoni Comín i Oliveres and Clara Ponsatí i Obiols (at the time members of the Government of the Autonomous Community of Catalonia), the Court writes, reconstructing the facts. In March 2018, the Spanish Supreme Court charged Puigdemont and Comín, as well as Ponsatí, with alleged crimes of rebellion and misappropriation of public funds, the Court recalls. As the defendants had left Spain, the criminal proceedings were suspended until they could be located. The Spanish Supreme Court issued arrest warrants for them so that they could stand trial. As Puigdemont, Comín and Ponsatí were elected in the European Parliament elections held in Spain on 26 May 2019, the Spanish Supreme Court asked the Parliament to waive the parliamentary immunity of the three Members, which the Parliament did by decisions of 9 March 2021. The Members asked the General Court of the European Union to annul those decisions. By judgment of 5 July 2023, the General Court dismissed their action against the Parliament’s decisions. The Members appealed that judgment to the Court of Justice. The Court sets aside the judgment of the General Court and the three decisions of the Parliament. The Court notes that, in order to ensure the impartiality of the rapporteur examining a request for waiver of immunity, Parliament has laid down a rule that the rapporteur may not belong to the same political group as the Member whose immunity is at issue. Indeed, potential affinities between them could give rise to legitimate doubts as to the rapporteur’s impartiality.