Puigdemont loses parliamentary immunity following European court ruling 

The European General Court (EGC) has ruled that MEPs had the right to lift the immunity of Catalan pro-independence leaders Carles Puigdemont, Toni Comín, and Clara Ponsatí. 

Yet, the decision is not yet a final one as it can still be appealed, which they have already said they will do, as well as requesting measures to provisionally restore their immunity before a final decision is made. A previous request to have immunity provisionally restored before Wednesday's ruling had already been granted.

If appealed, the CJEU would probably rule on the matter in early 2024, just months before the next European Parliament elections, to be held in May next year.

The defense team also expects Spanish Supreme Court judge Pablo Llarena to reactivate the arrest warrants or issue new ones, but they trust that Belgian authorities will not execute them until Luxembourg issues a final decision after appeals.

In another ruling, the EGC also ruled that the Spanish Supreme Court had the authority to request lawmakers in the European parliament to lift the immunity in order to let them continue with the legal case against Puigdemont and the former ministers for the independence push.

Puigdemont: "Nothing is over" 

Pro-independence Junts MEP Carles Puigdemont already remarked that "nothing is over" following the ruling. "On the contrary. Everything continues."

"We will appeal to the European Court of Justice and we will defend our fundamental rights, which are also those of Catalans and Europeans," he tweeted straight after the ruling was read.

Right now, the defense team has two months to appeal the decision, which will then have six months to make a decision. 

"Political dissidence is threatened in Europe," Puigdemont added.

On the same lines, Puigdemont, Comín, and Ponsatí's lawyer Gonzalo Boye already announced the intention to appeal the decision.

EGC ruling

Faced with an extradition attempt from Spain, the independence leaders appealed the decision of other MEPs to lift their parliamentary immunity in March 2021, as requested by the Spanish Supreme Court.

Puigdemont, Comín, and Ponsatí all complained that the Supreme Court was not a competent body to issue such a request and that the European Parliament did not manage the case in an "impartial way," violating their "right to be heard" and to "access documentation."

The Court of Justice of the European Union "dismisses the action" presented by Carles Puigdemont, Antoni Comín, and Clara Ponsatí regarding their immunity as MEPs, as Savvas S. Papasavvas, the CJEU vice president, said

The independence leaders, who left Catalonia in the autumn of 2017 following the referendum, filed a complaint against what they saw as a lack of impartiality from the European Parliament's Legal Affairs Committee, Adrián Vázquez of unionist Ciudadanos, who was in charge of managing the request to lift the immunity.

The court considers that the fact that Vázquez was from the same European parliamentary group as the far-right Vox, who acted as a private prosecutor in the trial against the independence leaders who remained in Catalonia following 2017, is "an irrelevant" matter when considering impartiality.

It also endorses that the Legal Affairs Committee decided to merge the cases of the three MEPs because they are "the subject of the same criminal process." 

The ECG also dismissed the claim that the Supreme Court was not a competent body to make the request of MEPs to lift the immunity of the independence leaders.

Penal code reform and charges

Following the repeal of sedition, the Supreme Court updated the charges against the independence leaders in January 2023. 

After the Spanish Penal Code reform, eliminating sedition as a crime and replacing it with the lesser 'aggravated public disorder,' the Supreme Court updated the charges against the independence leaders in January 2023. 

Puigdemont and Comín now face charges of misuse of public funds and disobedience, while Ponsatí faces disobedience. Ponsatí currently does not face a prison sentence, which is why she returned to Catalonia in late March, however, Puigdemont and Comín are not in the same situation.

Future for Supreme Court

The Supreme Court will now study the decision of the EGC. Pablo Llarena could reactivate the European arrest warrants or issue new ones for a fourth time.

If new European arrest warrants are issued, they could only be for misuse of public funds, as previous arrest warrants were issued for sedition. 

Gonzalo Boye, the lawyer of the Catalan independence leaders, believes that this change in the criminal code would make new European arrest warrants inviable, as, according to the lawyer, the European Parliament approved lifting the immunity of the three with a very specific purpose, for the Supreme Court to try them for sedition.

With sedition no longer in the penal code, Boye insists that the situation would have to return to square one, with the Supreme Court making another request to the European Parliament, this time for lifting immunity to try them for misuse of funds. 

This would only affect Puigdemont and Comín, and Ponsatí is not charged with misuse of funds. In her case, there is a national warrant out for her arrest for disobedience.