Catalan MEP Toni Comín has asked the EU commissioner for the economy, Paolo Gentiloni, if the Union will block Recovery Funds from going to Spain as it has done in the case of Poland, for breaching European law. Comín asserts that Spain is in a situation similar to that of Poland given that the Spanish Supreme Court "has defied the Luxembourg court" and failed to recognize that European justice had suspended the arrest warrants (EAWs) against the exiled Catalan politicians. The most recent offensive by Supreme Court judge Pablo Llarena before an Italian judge, which turned out to be a fiasco, has given new arguments to the exiles.
"In November, Poland is due to receive 24 billion euros from the Recovery Fund. In accordance with the Rule of Law conditionality mechanism that accompanies this fund, the European Commission has informed Poland that it must first adapt to the decisions of the EU Court of Justice. But when the Polish Constitutional Court challenged the Luxembourg court, ruling that its domestic law takes precedence over EU law, the European Commission blocked the funds," Comín recalled.
Spain has behaved like Poland
According to Toni Comín, Spanish's judicial rebelliousness parallels the actions of Poland. "In Spain, the Supreme Court - judge Llarena - has also defied the Luxembourg court, which on July 30th had stated that the EAWs issued by this judge against three MEPs from this chamber - Carles Puigdemont, Clara Ponsatí and myself - had been suspended. However, last week the same judge informed the Italian judicial authorities that he has no intention of suspending the European arrest warrant, ignoring the European Court's decision," explained Comín.
The Catalan MEP affirmed that the EU is applying a double standard, and he turned to the EU economy minister to ask him in Italian: "Commissioner Gentiloni, will the European Commission apply the same standard to Spain that it applies to Poland? Will it block Spain's access to the Recovery Funds until the Constitutional Court respects the decision of the European Court? And if it does not... why this double standard? We are demanding that some states adapt to European law if they want European funds, but for others, we are not. Is this the Europe we want?"
140 billion euros
Spain is to receive about 140 billion euros from the European funds, which will be managed centrally by the Spanish government. Of this total, between 70,000 and 80,000 euros will be in the form of non-refundable direct transfers, and the rest is in the form of loans that will have to be paid back.
The Spanish ministry for ecological transition will manage approximately 6.8 million euros of the funds, while the ministry of transport will control 4.9 million. Other quantities allocated go to the ministries of economy (3.6 million), health (2.9), education (1.8), industry (1.7), labour (1.1) and science and innovation (1.1).