Comín considers returning to Catalonia before Puigdemont

BrusselsToni Comín avoids setting a date for his return to Catalonia, but assures that there is "a certain urgency" so that he can collect his MEP certificate – for which he must swear the Constitution at the Congress – and start exercising as a representative of Junts in the European Parliament. In the first public appearance he makes after the application of the amnesty to the pro-independence leaders, the elected MEP has celebrated what he considers "a great political victory for the independence movement and for all democrats". He has said that the Spanish state has "had to admit they were right", but has warned that the amnesty "is not the final victory": "We want many more", he added.

Comín has separated his return from that of former president Carles Puigdemont and former minister Lluís Puig, arguing that this is a decision that should not be taken personally, but with political sense. "The political conditions of each of us are very different", he stated. In his case, he has argued that for more than two years, half a million voters have not been represented in the Eurochamber and that, for coherence, he should now try to miss as few plenary sessions as possible.

Comín has contrasted his situation with that of Puigdemont, of whom he has said that he wants to put "his return at the service of a country goal" and that it should not be subject "to the interests of the party". Thus, he has avoided pronouncing himself on whether the leader of Junts will return before the Spanish elections of November 29th, as his circle defends. "That must be said by the president", he stressed.

Despite sharing the same lawyer, Gonzalo Boye, Comín has stated that he is now in "conditions to return without any risk" from a legal point of view, so he does not need to wait for the second chamber of the Supreme Court to definitively archive the case against him. Statements that open the door for his return to Catalonia to take place before that of the former president, who assured that he would wait for the case to be closed.

A success of the exile

The former Minister of Health has defended the strategy of exile, which according to him is what led to the amnesty because it allowed for the internationalization of the conflict and the achievement of legal victories that built a consensus in Europe against the repressive management of a political conflict. This, he said, "prepared the ground" so that, when the favorable parliamentary arithmetic existed, the agreement for the amnesty was possible.

Regarding his political future, he has assured that he will focus his activity as a Member of the European Parliament at the European Parliament. "The internationalization of the conflict has not ended," he said. But if during the last term his action was focused on "countering repression," now he says he will dedicate himself to convincing people of the legality of the independence referendum and the legitimacy of the right to self-determination. "A new stage is opening in the agenda of the independence movement in Europe," he stated. "There are still many people left to convince."

Comín, who has a harassment complaint from a former advisor to the European Parliament, has denied that the investigation has affected his relationship with Puigdemont and with the party: "If it has affected it, it has affected it positively," he assured. The European Parliament issued a report in which it gave credibility to the witnesses' allegations, but did not impose any sanctions on him because he was not an MEP.