Puigdemont, Junqueras and Comín’s seats in European Parliament declared "vacant" by Spain’s JEC
The newly-elected MEPs have been stripped of "all their prerogatives” until they pledge their allegiance to the Spanish Constitution
MadridOn Thursday Spain’s Central Electoral Commission [JEC in Spanish] unanimously decided to reject the constitutional oath taken in Belgium by Carles Puigdemont as requested Monday by Gonzalo Boye, his international lawyer. Now the JEC will send the European Parliament the list of Spanish MEPs who have been issued their credentials, and will inform the chamber that a further three (Carles Puigdemont, Toni Comín, and Oriol Junqueras) have not obtained it.
Thus, the Commission has declared the seats of the three Catalan politicians "vacant" and "suspended all the prerogatives" that they are entitled to as MEPs until they take the oath. In other words, according to the JEC none of the three MEPs will enjoy the parliamentary immunity granted to them by their position until they pledge their allegiance to the Spanish Constitution in person before the JEC, which is headquartered in the Spanish parliament in Madrid.
Puigdemont and Comín —who are exiled in Brussels— tried to obtain their credentials by proxy, through powers of attorney, an option that was disallowed by the JEC. Thus, the former Catalan president received a second setback today. Junqueras, for his part, requested permission from the Supreme Court to leave the Soto del Real prison to take the oath in Madrid, but his request was turned down.
The ERC leader appealed the decision to the same court, which has not yet announced its ruling, but has already received the prosecutor's report in which they request that the appeal be denied. Furthermore, Boye announced that the two elected MEPs from JxCat would take the case to European justice.
