Arrested in Barcelona on Tuesday afternoon and then released, Clara Ponsatí, the MEP in favor of the independence of Catalonia, was back in Brussels on Wednesday.
It was before the European Parliament, meeting in plenary session, that Clara Ponsatí denounced the inaction of this institution the day after her “illegal arrest” in a street in Barcelona where she was returning for the first time since October 2017.
The former Minister of Education of the Catalan government of Carles Puigdemont had been in exile for 5 years because prosecuted for disobedience in the context of the organization of the illegal referendum of self-determination of October 1, 2017. Arrested Tuesday afternoon, she had was released a few hours later with a summons to appear before the Spanish Supreme Court on 24 April.
This Wednesday, Clara Ponsatí charged the European Parliament and especially its president, Roberta Metsola, accused of having done nothing to defend her immunity following her arrest of which she was informed immediately.
The legal committee chaired by a Spaniard in the crosshairs
“I received no response and the presidency did nothing but bureaucratically forward the case to the Legal Affairs Committee (JURI),” Ponsatí revealed. A JURI commission, chaired by the Spaniard Adrián Vázquez, deputy of the Ciudadanos party renowned for its anti-independence.
“I wonder if this failure to defend immunity following the unlawful arrest of a Member of Parliament, which has never happened in the history of this House, is a policy of the Presidency or is it an attitude that you reserve for us, the Catalans?”, concluded the MEP from Junts in her speech alongside Carles Puigdemont and Toni Comínother MEPs threatened with arrest on their return to Spain.
In front of the European Parliament, the MEP of the ERC (Catalan independence party of left), Diana Riba, also criticized the arrest of Ponsatí and asked Metsola to defend his immunity. “Ask Spanish justice to comply once and for all with European legality”.
“A secessionist theater”
During this session, other Spanish deputies criticized Ponsatí’s position. “Here we all know that they are fugitives, that they have broken the law and that they must answer to Spanish justice. Enough secessionist theatre,” said Dolors Montserrat of the Parti Popular. Later, Jordi Cañas of the Ciudadanos, reproached Metsola for having given the floor to Ponsatí to make it a “political show”.
On the merits of the case, Clara Ponsatí’s lawyer informed the judge of the Supreme Court, Pablo Llarena, that he is not expecting the MEP on April 24 since she has no intention of to attend his summons.