High Court says it is not competent to rule on Madrid’s blocking of Catalan ministers

Spain’s High Court in Catalonia (TSJC) says it is not competent enough to decide on the blocking of ministers’ nominations. Catalan president Quim Torra asked the court for precautionary measures after his Spanish counterpart Mariano Rajoy did not allow him to appoint pro-independence leaders in jail or abroad as members of his government.

Catalonia has been without a government since last October, when Rajoy imposed direct rule following a declaration of independence and sacked all government members. Pro-independence parties held on to a parliamentary majority in a subsequent election, but courts blocked all their attempts to elect a president until Torra was finally sworn in two weeks ago.

Quim Torra pledged to offer all ministers who were deposed on October 27, 2017 to be reinstated. Four of them accepted this, including Jordi Turull and Josep Rull, who are in prison. They were sacked from their posts as heads of presidency and territory departments. The Catalan leader also picked Lluís Puig (Culture) and Toni Comín (Health), both in Belgium seeking refuge from Spain’s justice, for his cabinet.  

The Spanish government, still in control of the Catalan government, has been blocking the publication of Torra’s nominations in Catalonia’s official gazette (DOGC).

A Catalan government juridical advisor committee ruled that it is illegal and that Madrid has to allow the nominations to be published. For the lawyers, forming a government is within Torra’s attributions, which are “not subject to the authorization or control” of direct rule. “There is no legal circumstance exempting the ministers from taking office,” says the non-binding ruling.