"By the mandate of October 1st": Toni Comín pledges to the Constitution in Madrid to become an MEP again

MadridAfter almost nine years in exile and the day after the return of Lluís Puig to Terrassa, Toni Comín has set foot in the Spanish state to swear to the Constitution and collect the European Parliament deputy credentials that the Central Electoral Board (JEC) denied him in July 2024. He has done so now that Pablo Llarena has lifted the arrest warrant that was against him and three days before solemnizing his return from exile by crossing the border on foot through a mountain pass accompanied by his friends. “With loyalty to the people of Catalonia and the mandate of October 1st,” he said in Catalan when swearing to the Magna Carta by “legal imperative.” The president of the JEC, Eduardo Calvo, had previously warned him that he would not meet the requirement if he gave an answer that did not include an “unconditional” form, but just after, he confirmed that he had fully become an MEP.

When he finished the formal pledge to the Constitution, smiling and “brand new,” Toni Comín showed him his newly made ID card. It had expired, and during the morning he had to go to the Congress police station to renew it, as ARA was able to confirm in person. By the way, one of the members of the JEC, who was discreetly positioned in the second row, was Carmen Lamela, who was the judge of the National Court who sent the October 1st Government to prison on November 2, 2017.

Upon leaving, in front of the microphones, Toni Comín made it clear that his return from exile will be on Sunday when he enters Catalonia: “There is no difference between what I am doing today or so many trips that I have had to make to Amsterdam, Rome, Paris, or many other European capitals,” he verbalized in a four-minute statement without questions. The Junts MEP also boasted that, despite the Spanish state having been “using all its resources” to prevent it, he has been able to return “without having spent even a second before any Spanish judge and not a second in any Spanish prison.”

Toni Comín arrived in Madrid by car on Wednesday evening after crossing the border through the Basque Country and throughout the morning he has been accompanied by his sister, by Oriol Izquierdo –from the left-wing sector of Junts– and by the deputy Josep Pagès. Also present at the event before the JEC was his lawyer, Gonzalo Boye. The pledge to the Magna Carta took place in the Sala Sert, named after the Barcelona painter Josep Maria Sert. It is the place, for example, where the Justice Committee of the Congress met with the Venice Commission during the processing of the amnesty law. In the building's lobby, journalists were waiting for him to come down to attend to them and advisors from various parliamentary groups were asking the reason for the commotion.

At ten o'clock, after renewing his national ID card, he tried to slip away from the press to avoid being filmed, although cameras captured a fleeting image while he was crossing the tunnel that connects the two buildings of the lower house under the Carrera de San Jerónimo. Although he wanted it to be a discreet procedure, before heading to the JEC he was interviewed on TV3 and afterwards –pursued by cameras, photographers and journalists– he walked the few meters along the street to the building that hosted the ceremony.

An unnecessary Constitution pledge in 2019

“They have invented a procedure that makes no sense,” Toni Comín denounced from Brussels two days ago. He said this because coming to Madrid to swear in the Constitution is a step he did not have to take seven years ago. In 2019, the JEC also prevented him from being an MEP in the first instance, but –five months later– the ruling of the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) regarding the immunity of Oriol Junqueras allowed both him and Carles Puigdemont to become members of the European Parliament without passing through Spain.

This time the same thing happened, but the outcome was different. Despite the CJEU's jurisprudence, the JEC again refused to issue him the parliamentary credential with the justification that he had not gone to swear in the Magna Carta. Consequently, the Eurochamber –which understood that Comín could travel to Spain without being arrested thanks to his immunity as an elected official– left his seat vacant until there was a new CJEU ruling confirming that compliance with the Constitution is not essential. But that has not arrived, and after today's procedure, it will no longer be necessary. Toni Comín intends to participate in the European Parliament plenary session on November 11 and 12 in Brussels.

Junts regains presence in the European Parliament

Since the summer of 2024, 431,000 Catalans –18% of the votes in the European elections– had been left without representation in the European Parliament due to the veto on Toni Comín. In these almost two and a half years, the only elected MEP for Junts has not been able to influence European politics or “internationalize the Catalan cause” from the hemicycle, something he will now be able to do. In fact, it is one of his main objectives. This has been a burden for Junts, although now the question arises as to how the party's line will be implemented in the European Parliament in this new stage without Puigdemont at the helm.