2023-09-18 13:23:39
The former Catalan president and JxCAT MEP Carles Puigdemont and the other two MEPs of the party, Toni Comín and Clara Ponsatí, have appealed to the Court of Justice of the Union the ruling of the General Court that lifted their immunity as MEPs in order to be able to be investigated in Spain for his responsibility in the process. According to sources from the CJEU to laSexta, the appeals were registered on Friday and have not been accompanied by any demand for provisional measures (although there is no deadline to present these).
Puigdemont’s defense had already announced that it would file an appeal when on July 5 the General Court of the EU confirmed the decision of the European Parliament to lift the immunity of the former president, as well as his former advisors Toni Comín and Clara Ponsatí. The TGEU rejected all the reasons formulated by the three MEPs, in particular their allegations that the European Parliament did not take into account that the judicial process was launched with the intention of damaging the activity of its members.
In this way, European Justice cleared the way for Judge Pablo Llarena to reactivate the European surrender and detention orders (OEDEs) that were in force until last January, when the magistrate left them void pending their resolution. two key questions.
The first was the CJEU’s response to the preliminary ruling that Llarena raised to determine the scope of the European orders after the Belgian judges refused to hand over former counselor Lluís Puig. The CJEU removed this first obstacle on January 31 by establishing that the judicial authorities that receive the EAWs cannot refuse to execute them based on alleged violations of fundamental rights if systemic and widespread deficiencies are not demonstrated in Spain.
The second mystery to clear up was the July 5 ruling on immunity and petitions. Consequently, the Prosecutor’s Office asked Llarena shortly after to recover the EAWs against Puigdemont and Comín, but the instructor responded that he would not do so until he knew, precisely, whether they would appeal to the CJEU and under what terms. Specifically, the magistrate drew attention to the fact that they could ask the CJEU to provisionally restore their immunity as MEPs. If a positive response is received from the community court, it would mean paralyzing the new EAWs that had been issued.
On the other hand, it must be taken into account that, once the EAWs are issued, it is the Belgian judges who have to agree to the arrest and surrender of Puigdemont and his former advisors. The Supreme Court does not rule out the possibility that they will once again give “banal reasons” for not sending them to Spain, which could force Llarena to raise a new preliminary ruling, with the consequent delays.
The cases of Ponsatí and Puig
It is worth remembering that, although the TGUE ruling also referred to Ponsatí, his case is far from those of his two colleagues in the European Parliament due to the penal reform that repealed sedition and modified embezzlement. After this change, Puigdemont and Comín were prosecuted for disobedience and embezzlement, but Ponsatí was left with only disobedience, a crime that is not punishable by a prison sentence – only disqualification and a fine – which prevents a European order from being issued. against him.
Another ‘sui generis’ situation is that of Puig. Regarding him, Llarena was waiting for two things: the CJEU’s response to the preliminary ruling – resolved since January 31 – and that the new indictments, after the criminal reform, were final – something that happened on June 13th–.
In his case, the TGUE ruling was indifferent because he is not an MEP and, consequently, he could not claim any immunity. The prosecutors of the ‘procés’ requested Llarena last week to reactivate the euro-order against Puig, something on which the magistrate has not yet resolved. In any case, against all of them – Puigdemont, Comín, Puig and Ponsatí – there were already current national search and arrest warrants.
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