The European Parliament will argue in Luxembourg that the case of Oriol Junqueras, depends on Spanish "national legislation" and that the Parliament is not competent to involve itself in the matter, two sources with knowledge of the matter have told news agency ACN.
The issue before the European Court of Justice is whether or not Junqueras enjoyed immunity as an MEP from the moment of his election in May, in which case his defence argues he should have been allowed to go to Spain's Congress to swear allegiance to the Constitution and thus take his seat.
The chamber's Legal Affairs committee authorised its legal services to send a statement to the Court of Justice of the European Union for the hearing next Monday, 14th October, which should be strictly "legal and technical", not political.
The chamber's legal services will argue they cannot examine whether Spain correctly followed its procedures in submitting its official list of new MEPs or not, because it's governed by national law which they "cannot get involved in", the sources say. The chamber will say its only option was take note of the list it was provided with by Spain, that it couldn't question why the three pro-independence Catalans weren't named or anything else.
This is the same argument as that used all along by former president of the European Parliament, Antonio Tajani. He told the media again today that in the case of Junqueras, like those of Carles Puigdemont and Toni Comín, he couldn't "impose" changes to a state's official list of MEPs.
The sources believe Junqueras has little chance of winning this case. Although they admit there are underlying political issues, they refused to comment on what it means for the rights of those who voted for Junqueras, or Puigdemont and Comín for that matter, arguing it's not a question for Brussels.
The hearing in Luxembourg is scheduled for next Monday, 14th October, at 2.30pm local time.