Ultra-conservative to head EU committee dealing with request to lift immunity of Catalan MEPs

Bulgarian ultra-conservative MEP Angel Dzhambazki has been chosen by the European Parliament's Committee on Legal Affairs (JURI) to head the consideration of the request by Spain's Supreme Court to waive the immunity of MEPs Carles Puigdemont and Toni Comín. 

The Committee chose the member of the European Conservatives and Reformists Group as rapporteur because next on the list to hold the post were the conservatives, whose group includes the far-right Vox party but also the Flemish N-VA nationalist party.

Dzhambazki is a member of the IMRO – Bulgarian National Movement, which are government partners of prime minister Boyko Borisov. It is Dzhambazki's second term in the EU chamber, where he has argued against immigration and the LGTBI community.

Dzhambazki will have "the time he needs," say sources in the chamber, to draw up the proposal for or against lifting the immunity of Puigdemont and Comín, who will also have the chance to address the committee and present the documents they think relevant.

Once the JURI committee has decided on which proposal to adopt, it will go to the vote in the EU chamber, with a simple majority enough to see the proposal pass. The entire process could take anywhere between two and six months to complete.