European Parliament recognizes Junqueras, Puigdemont and Comín as MEPs

The European Parliament announced in a statement released on Monday that it recognizes pro-independence Oriol Junqueras, Carles Puigdemont, and Toni Comín as MEPs despite Spain's attempts to block them from taking up their seats in the chamber. 

"Following the judgment of the Court of Justice of the European Union dated 19 December 2019, at the plenary sitting of 13 January 2020, the European Parliament will take note of [their election as MEPs]," the document reads, going on to state their status is "with effect from 2 July 2019" - the date of the parliament’s constitution.  

This comes three days after Spain's electoral authority decided to veto jailed Junqueras from taking up his seat despite the December ECJ ruling stating that he had parliamentary immunity from the moment he was elected MEP in May. 

Although the Esquerra Republicana leader remains in prison with a 13-year sentence for sedition and misuse of public funds for his role in the unsuccessful 2017 independence bid, Puigdemont and Comín have since been allowed entry into the chamber having previously been barred from doing so and were provided with MEP accreditation on December 20.