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.

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:"

French far-right leader Marine Le Pen returns to the dock this Tuesday in a trial that will shape her political future. Le Pen was sentenced in March 2025 to four years in prison – only two of which were served –, five years of disqualification and a fine of 100,000 euros for misappropriation of European Parliament funds in the case of fraud in parliamentary assistant contracts. Unlike the prison sentence, the court of first instance ruled for the immediate application of the disqualification, even though the sentence was not yet final. De factoThe leader of the National Rally (RN) was barred from the 2027 presidential race. Le Pen appealed the sentence, and the appeal hearing, which will last a month, begins this Tuesday. It represents her last chance to run for president.

For the first time, a new right-wing majority is consolidating in the European Parliament, with the European People's Party (EPP) flirting with far-right groups. Last week, the conservatives managed to pass the package of measures proposed by the European Commission to simplify the regulatory burden, supported by the most right-wing groups in the chamber, in exchange for cutting back on rules that require large companies to be held accountable for environmental and human rights issues.

For a moment yesterday, we returned to the times of Catalan news experienced in "minute of play and result" mode, Everyone is waiting for what Brussels decides about the official status of Catalan in the EU..

At the time of recording this video we continued awaiting the vote of the 27 EU member states on the official status of Catalan, Galician, and Basque in the EU institutions. At this point, the cards are on the table: the Spanish government, bound by its investiture pacts, has been trying for months to achieve official status, while the PP, which belongs to the party with the largest representation in the European Parliament, try the opposite.

Today, two very important pieces of justice news. In France, Marine Le Pen has been disqualified for fraud in the hiring of assistants to the European Parliament.

The blow to the far right is brutal. Marine Le Pen, leader of the National Rally (RN), was sentenced this Monday to four years in prison (only two of which were final) and five years of disqualification from public office for embezzling European Parliament funds. The Paris Criminal Court decided to implement the disqualification immediately, a decision that will likely prevent Le Pen from running in the 2027 presidential elections. The sentence could trigger a political earthquake and change the history of France.

There seems to be a broad consensus in societies like ours, which has always been pro-European, and in neighbouring societies, that it is necessary to strengthen and reform the European Union so that it can survive in better health than it is now. This same newspaper has published a group of opinion articles – and mine – in that regard. All of us who are part of the EU, as citizens of member states, are aware of the immense difference that being part of the EU or not makes. We now look at the experiment of the United Kingdom, which decided to leave the EU and which now yearns to join. Having overcome the sense of satisfaction of national pride derived from the identity-based assertion that was Brexit and adopting a more rational and practical point of view, the gains of being part of the EU are outweighing the costs even for skeptical Britons.

There was much expectation about a possible meeting or photo opportunity between Pedro Sánchez and Carles Puigdemont this Wednesday in Strasbourg, but perhaps what happened is more important than a simple image, since in some way the two leaders have seen each other and have been able to exchange messages in front of the eyes of the MEPs. In his turn, Puigdemont stressed the importance of trust in order to move forward, and took the opportunity to underline the injustice of not being able to express oneself in Catalan in that scenario and to issue a mild warning about the "unpleasant consequences" that "not taking advantage of opportunities" can have. However, in general his tone has been conciliatory.

The possibility of earning close to a full salary while not working for five years before retiring was introduced in the Catalan Parliament in 2008 and is still in force today, although at a lower rate following last year's reform. It is an unprecedented figure in Spain, but not in the world: the European Union followed suit in 2015 and has since allocated 53.5 million euros to pay civil servants who are no longer working in the institution. Through a request for transparency made by ARA, the EU institutions have detailed their payments to officials who no longer provide effective services up to five years before retirement with amounts that, on average, stand at 8,227 euros per month, but in some cases can be close to 20,000 euros per month.

Exactly sixteen years have passed since the last and only time that the European Parliament discussed whether Catalan could be spoken in the European Parliament. The debate ended with the Bureau slamming the door on the request made by the Spanish government presided by José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero. Since then, the European Parliament has not discussed the issue again despite pressure from Catalan MEPs. The trend, however, could change this autumn, following Pedro Sánchez's governmentps commitment to ask the European institution to allow Catalan to be spoken in the plenary. It is one of the pacts reached by the Generalitat and the Spanish government this month of July in the latest meeting of the negotiating table. "The Spanish government will ask the presidency of the European Parliament to consider Catalan a language to be used in the plenary and for the purposes of exercising the right to petition the institution," the two executives wrote in the agreement to give Catalan a boost. Now, does this petition have a chance of succeeding?

Since the first scandal related to the cybersurveillance by some European governments and authorities on their own citizens was uncovered, the European Commission has been alarmed and concerned, but in practice has done very little. From Brussels, the EU executive considers it "unacceptable", but assures that it has no competence to do anything more than to call on governments to investigate the various cases that have come to light. This comes after The New Yorker, following an investigation by Citizen Lab, revealed several European governments including Spain's and Greece's appeared to be involved with mass cyber surveillance. Mass spying on Catalan politicians, activists and journalists has taken centre stage.

There is no doubt that in recent decades the European Union's project has experienced moments of crisis. First there were the failed referendums to approve a European Constitution, then the management of the very serious economic crisis, and finally it was Brexit that turned the EU into what seemed to be a soulless alliance of states, where the right of veto made it near impossible to take important decisions and which seemed to be immersed in a dangerous process of dissolution of its values. But with the pandemic, things began to change, and with the Ukrainian crisis, the EU has reacted in a swift and forceful manner that has surprised most analysts. The European Parliament yesterday warmly applauded the emotional speech by Ukrainian President Volodymir Zelenski, as well as those by Council President Charles Michel, Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, and head of European diplomacy Josep Borrell. The invasion of Ukraine has raised awareness of what it means to be European.

The General Court of the European Union, based in Luxembourg, has provisionally restored MEPs Carles Puigdemont, Toni Comín and Clara Ponsatí's immunity, wanted for the events of October 2017. This is a new triumph in the judicial field of the pro-independence exile and a confirmation, once again, that European justice is a field that offers more guarantees and is more scrupulous with fundamental rights than the Spanish courts. The Court has simply reverted to the situation prior to the withdrawal of immunity while it studies the appeal presented by the MEPs defence, and thus accepts the interim measures they sought to prevent any of the three being arrested before the case is resolved. It is a logical decision but it is a lesson for the Spanish justice system, which has always acted in a restrictive manner and with politically biased arguments.

In 2019 David Maria Sassoli (Florence, 1956) took over from fellow Italian Antonio Tajani as president of the European Parliament. Politically, however, they shared little more than nationality. Sassoli first came to the European Parliament in 2009 as a member of the Socialist family. Before politics he had worked for years as a journalist. Now, from the other side, he answers this newspaper's questions by email and reflects on the challenges facing Europe and the role of the institution he presides over in the conflict between Catalonia and Spain.

More than 250 MEPs and MPs from around the world have signed a letter to the Spanish government demanding "a political solution to the Catalan conflict" and amnesty for prisoners and exiles. The letter was presented this Thursday at the European Parliament by MEP Clare Daly, accompanied by other members of the EU-Catalonia Dialogue platform and with the presence of Carles Puigdemont, Clara Ponsatí, Toni Comín, Diana Riba and Jordi Solé.