The Junts Guarantees Commission decided on February 2 to freeze the internal investigation into two complaints it received against Toni Comín for "psychological, sexual, and physical harassment", according to an internal party report to which ARA has had access. The body has opted to shelve the two cases, for at least four months for now, despite being aware of the European Parliament's resolution upholding the complaint for psychological and sexual harassment filed in the parliamentary chamber against the former Minister of Health by a former assistant. Furthermore, as confirmed by ARA with several Junts sources, the party handed over to the MEP the complaint filed by the alleged victims and "the accompanying documentation", such as "the writings in which each of them explains the facts" and also the confidential resolution of the European Parliament.

The European Parliament's investigation has sided with the former parliamentary assistant who accused Junts-elect MEP Toni Comín of sexual and psychological harassment. The European Parliament asserts that it has investigated and interviewed several "credible witnesses" who "confirm" the "allegations" reported by the worker parliamentarian, and claims he has "sufficient evidence" of "prima facie" which "justify" taking the case of the former regional minister in exile to court, according to a confidential resolution from the European Parliament to which ARA has had access. For his part, Comín asserts in this newspaper that he "has never been called" by the European Parliament "to explain the truth of the events," categorically denies "all the accusations," and warns that he "reserves the right to take legal action against those who are making false accusations with the intent to defame."

Last night, Carles Puigdemont exacted a significant price. As we explained yesterday, The Court of Justice of the European Union ruled in his favor. (him, Comín, and Ponsatí) and established that the European Parliament stripped them of their parliamentary immunity with clear bias. The ruling states that the rapporteur in charge of investigating the Supreme Court's request was a Bulgarian MEP from the same political group as Vox, the party that acted as a private prosecutor in the trial of the Catalan independence leaders. This individual participated in an event entitled "Catalonia is Spain" in which he called himselfPuigdemont in prison"What happened yesterday doesn't happen very often, because the court has corrected the shortcomings in the European Parliament and the General Court of the European Union and told them to please do things properly. The president in exile celebrated it thus:"

On Tuesday I told you that the State must compensate for the damage that Renfe and Adif, as non-executive arms of the Ministry of Transport, were causing to the Catalan economy. We said that the commuter rail works aren't quick, fine, but the extraordinary financial compensation could be. Well, today it's news that The Government will demand that the State pay the bill for the railway chaos.What bill? Well, some items are very clear: the free commuter rail service decreed until the end of the month, or the cost of lifting the toll barriers on the C-32, or the cost of hiring information staff at the stations or buses and drivers for the commuter rail lines that now have to travel by bus.

The Constitutional Court is avoiding preemptively ruling on amnesty for Carles Puigdemont and, while studying the merits of the case, is refusing to lift the arrest warrant that prevents the former president of the Generalitat from returning to Catalonia as a free man. The Court rejected on Tuesday the precautionary measures requested by Puigdemont, Toni Comín, and Lluís Puig as part of their appeals for protection of fundamental rights against the Supreme Court's refusal to apply the amnesty law to them. The Constitutional Court considers that granting their request would result in a "disregard for the general interest," given that there is still an "open criminal case" concerning "serious crimes." Therefore, it is necessary to protect "the effectiveness" of the investigation led by Pablo Llarena, which "must take precedence" over the "prejudice" to the fundamental rights denounced by Puigdemont, Comín, and Puig. Furthermore, it argues that making a decision now "would amount to a premature resolution" of the substance of the matter and would imply a "premature judgment" on the application of the amnesty. The decision is thethe same one that took The Constitutional Court is currently reviewing the cases of Oriol Junqueras, Jordi Turull, Raül Romeva, and Dolors Bassa, who are demanding the lifting of their disqualifications, which are in effect until 2030 and 2031. Does this mean Puigdemont's return is delayed? The Constitutional Court is expected to make a decision on the merits of the case in the coming months, and a favorable ruling would open the door for the former president to return to the Principality. By then, the Court of Justice of the European Union is also expected to have ruled on the amnesty, after the Advocate General endorsed the law by the end of 2025. The Constitutional Court's final verdict will have to determine whether the alleged misuse of public funds by the October 1st government is upheld. Whatever the Constitutional Court decides, the ball will return to the Supreme Court's court, which has repeatedly ruled against it, arguing that Puigdemont and the ministers enriched themselves through the October 1st referendum because they did not cover their expenses with their own assets. It remains to be seen what the Supreme Court will do if the Constitutional Court contradicts its own doctrine.

This is not the first time that the Israeli issue has sparked disagreements within Junts. The party has agreed on a position, expressed by spokesperson Josep Rius and secretary general Jordi Turull, but the back-and-forth between the most pro-Palestinian and most pro-Israeli camps has not ceased. Spokesperson Josep Rius said on Monday: "Let the war stop, let there be a permanent ceasefire, let the killing of civilians stop, let the hostages be released, and let these peace negotiations resume so that we can move toward a two-state solution." Turull even called on Sunday "for this genocide to end," "for the parties to talk, for recognition of both states." However, this week, opposing views have also been publicly expressed between Junts MEP Toni Comín and the head of the party's international branch, Joan Maria Piqué, former chief of staff to former President Artur Mas and former collaborator of Carles Puigdemont and former minister Victoria Alsina.

Seven years later, there is a verdict: the two journalistsAna Rosa's program Telecinco's media outlets that recorded messages exchanged between former President Carles Puigdemont and MEP Toni Comín in Leuven (Flanders) in 2018 have been convicted of violating the privacy of both politicians. The unlawful disclosure of the chat, which was widely discussed on the Madrid presenter's program, will cost them €3,500 in compensation to Comín and Puigdemont for moral damages.

The future of Carles Puigdemont is in the Supreme Court this Monday. The appeals court has held a public hearing to study whether or not to apply the amnesty to the former president and the former ministers Toni Comín and Lluís Puig, half a year after Judge Pablo Llarena I would definitely deny them The judge, in line with the majority opinion of the criminal court, applied the interpretation that allocating public money to the referendum was a way of enriching oneself personally, given that the promoters of the consultation stopped putting money out of their own pockets and saved money. In this way, he justified that they cannot be pardoned. The amnesty law excludes the possibility of applying it to people who, by diverting funds, obtained a "personal benefit of a patrimonial nature." The judge made the decision in July and She confirmed it two months later, when it overturned both the first appeal of the defendants and the one presented by the Public Prosecutor's Office and the State Attorney's Office.

1. Why do we wake up every day to the story of Donald Trump? While Europe sleeps, the president of the United States signs executive decrees, holds press conferences and lets loose like donkeys fart. One after another, without caring about the trail or the scent. He is given to having justice, human rights or reality put a stop to his plans in any area. He will not build the Mediterranean Riviera in Gaza, nor will he achieve peace in Ukraine with just two meetings with Putin, nor will he wipe transgender people off the map and, it remains to be seen whether he can even bring back the plastic straws that are so good for slushies but so bad for the planet. But it never ceases to surprise that whatever Trump says is news. Often the first, the one on the front page, the one that opens news and television news. The mediocre following of journalism in Europe is also something to make us look at. So much attention to the idiot is excessive. We collaborate in enthroning stupidity, we devalue our environment and we help create monsters that, in the name of fear and hatred, play along with options that take us far from democratic values.

Jordi Domingo is the new president of the Council of the Republic. With a turnout of only 9% of the almost 90,000 registered in the Consell, the candidate of the managing board has uncontestedly imposed himself on the other three rivals in the electoral race with 65.8% support (5,340 votes). In second place was Montserrat Duran, who was the voice of the less pro-government local councils, with 22.7% support (1,846 votes), and in third place, the former vice president of the Consell and MEP of Junts, Toni Comín, who was not even able to reach 10% of the votes (745). In fourth place was Majorcan Antoni Walter Castelló, who came close to 2% of the votes thanks to the 161 votes obtained, although he was the only one of the four who had no chance of winning because he was running without a team or support with the sole objective of claiming the Catalan Countries.

Toni Comín, Jordi Domingo, Montserrat Duran and Antoni Walter Castelló. These are the four candidates who aspire to replace Carles Puigdemont at the head of the Council of the Republic. Only the first three have a chance of assuming the presidency because Castellón is running without a team or support and with the sole objective of claiming the Països Catalans. The last word is up to those registered in the entity, who have until nine o'clock on Wednesday morning to decide who they want to lead the entity. Three hours later the winner will be known.

"This is over, our people have sacrificed us, at least me." This message, dated January 31, 2018, probably represents the most explicit moment of union between the former minister Toni Comín and the former president Carles Puigdemont, both exiled following the 1-O. It is the day that the then president of the Parliament, Roger Torrent, decided to suspend the plenary session and rule out the investiture of Puigdemont from a distance, a day in which, as the message expresses, both leaders felt isolated from the separatists who had remained in Catalonia. Since then, much water has flowed under the bridge and, after seven years in Belgium, the relationship between Puigdemont and Comín has deteriorated, with many ups and downs, until reaching a point of no return: the controversy surrounding the former minister's economic management in the Council of the Republic has marked a before and after. A controversy to which another has been added this week in the form of a complaint in the European Parliament by a former advisor to Comín for sexual harassment, as it progressed The Vanguard.

The process to withdraw MEPs Carles Puigdemont, Toni Comín and Clara Ponsatí's immunity has not been smooth nor has it involved unanimous support for the Spanish justice system, rather the opposite. Despite the final approval of the request, the result draws a clear division in the European Parliament around the Catalan issue: 400 votes in favor, 248 against and 45 abstentions. In other words, 42% of MEPs have refused to endorse the reactivation of the process of extradition of Catalan pro-independence leaders who are in exile outside Spain and who won the support of nearly one million votes in the last European elections. As Toni Comín said, this is a "political victory" for Catalan independence, which once again sees how things in Europe are seen substantially different than in the Spanish state.

It is back to the courts for Carles Puigdemont, Toni Comín and Clara Ponsatí after their parliamentary immunity was withdrawn this morning. The result of the European Parliament plenary vote on Monday is the definitive confirmation which comes as no surprise. By 400 votes in favour, 248 against and 45 abstentions, in the case of Puigdemont, and by 404 votes in favour, 247 against and 42 abstentions in the case of Comín and Ponsatí, the European Parliament has decided to grant the suspension of immunity requested by the Spanish Supreme Court so that the judicial process can continue in Belgium and Scotland for their extraditions

Parliament's legal affairs committee voted on Tuesday to waive Carles Puigdemont, Toni Comín and Clara Ponsatí's immunity, as proposed by Bulgarian ultra-conservative rapporteur Angel Dzhambazki. His report received 15 votes in favour, 8 against and 2 abstentions. This vote is the first step towards accepting the Spanish Supreme Court's request, which requires the three MEPs to lose their immunity from prosecution before extradition can be requested. But it is not the final step, which will have to be taken by all 705 MEPs in a vote scheduled for the week starting March 8. After that, the Belgian and Scottish courts will be able to continue to process the suspended warrants pending the request.