BRUSSELS (AP) – The European Parliament on Tuesday lifted the immunity of former President of Spain’s Catalan region, Carles Puigdemont, and two of his associates, a step that could pave the way for their extradition and the scars of separatism in Spain. can reopen.
The Spanish government immediately welcomed the decision of the European legislature as a victory for the rule of law and against those who wanted to break away from the rich northeastern region of the rest of Spain.
The decision is also likely to extend the 3 1/2 year trial over the fate of the three separatists by months, if not years, as many possibilities for appeal are open before possible extraditions.
In the decision on Puigdemont, 400 legislators voted for the waiver of immunity, 248 were against and 45 abstained. The measures to lift the immunity of his staff – former Catalan health minister Toni Comín and former local education minister Clara Ponsatí – were largely similar.
“We have lost our immunity, but the European Parliament has lost more than that. As a result, so does European democracy, ‘Puigdemont said afterwards. “This is a clear case of political persecution.”
He said that “the European Parliament has unfortunately fallen into this strategy.”
Puigdemont and a number of his separatist colleagues fled to Belgium in October 2017, for fear of arrest after holding an independent referendum for Catalonia that was illegal according to Spanish courts and the government.
In 2019, Puigdemont and his two associates gained seats in the European Parliament and were granted protection as members of the EU Assembly.
Ponsatí said the three would appeal the decision of the meeting to the EU higher courts in Luxembourg.
“We are very convinced that we have very strong grounds for this appeal,” she said, adding that the legislature’s handling of the step was “clumsy, sloppy and without proper procedure.”
“The conflicts of interest involved in the process were outrageous,” she said.
Spanish Foreign Minister Arancha González Laya said the meeting’s decision showed that Puigdemont and his two assistants could not hide behind their legislative seats to prevent them from appearing before the justice system. In a video statement, González Laya also said that the decision means that “the problems of Catalonia in Spain will be solved, they will not be solved in Europe.”
Dolors Montserrat, a European lawmaker with the center-right European People’s Party and a former cabinet member of the Spanish government who ousted Puigdemont, told Spanish broadcaster TVE: “Spain wins, Europe wins, democracy wins.” She added that the decision was confirmed that Puigdemont “is a fugitive who has to answer before Spanish courts.”
Iratxe Garcia Perez, the leader of the S&D socialist group, said “the European Parliament does not judge anyone. We only guarantee that justice does its job. A clear majority, the absolute majority of parliament, supported the fact that Spanish justice should be able to do its job. ”
Despite the wide margin to waive the immunity of the three legislators, Comín said that the vote did show two sides of the debate, pointing out that many European legislators’ the minister says they do not trust Spanish justice. ‘
The independence vote in 2017 in favor of Catalonia’s breakaway from Spain was a major shift, but those in favor of Spanish unity rejected the vote. The central government in Madrid has declared the vote illegal and unconstitutional. Hundreds of people in Catalonia were injured in a police burglary on the day of the poll.
Spain tried to bring Puigdemont back for trial, but did not persuade the Belgian government authorities to extradite him. Spain could very well now begin new efforts to extradite him.
Since 2017, official elections have repeatedly shown that Catalan voters are equally divided by the secession question. In a regional election last month, Catalonia’s arm of the Socialist Party, which leads the ruling coalition at the national level, won a narrow victory, although separatist parties increased their majority in the Northeast region.
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Parra reports from Madrid.