European justice has dealt a blow to Spanish far-right party Vox in its offensive to remove Catalan pro-independence politicians Carles Puigdemont and Toni Comín from their positions as MEPs. The European Union's General Court has rejected the appeal filed by three Vox MEPs in January this year against the European Parliament's decision to allow Puigdemont and Comín to take the seats which they were elected to in 2019. Vox argued that the President of the European Parliament, David Sassoli, had exceeded his competencies and had committed a violation of Spanish law, which requires a pledge of obedience to the Constitution within the "national territory".
The appeal was presented by Vox MEPs Hermann Tertsch, Jorge Buxadé and Mazaly Aguilar to the General Court on 14th January, the day after Sassoli announced to the European chamber that Puigdemont and Comin were taking possession of their seats.
The President of the European Parliament, David Sassoli / ACN
Manifestly incompetent
The court rejected the claim, considering that it had been presented to a body which is "manifestly incompetent" to rule on this issue and argues that the Vox MEPs were not justified in presenting the appeal on the grounds alleged. In consequence, the Vox representatives were ordered to pay costs.
Previously, the General Court had also rejected the claim that the appeal should be processed with urgency and argued, among other issues, that it had been made using an incorrect procedure.
European Parliament's defence of Spain's and state
Vox's appeal received a response from the European Parliament itself on 11th May, which entered an objection of inadmissibility to the claim, but this also obliged the Spanish state to take a stand against the appeal, declaring its support for the European Parliament, as well as for the two Catalan MEPs.
The seat and the salaries
The Spanish far-right party had demanded that the taking of possession of the MEP places by Puigdemont and Comín should be annulled as well as any effect derived from it; that any contracts that might have been formalized with parliamentary assistants or advisers should be terminated; and any funds received “in their illegitimate condition of MEPs” as well as any quantity paid to the members of their teams should be returned.
The three Spanish MEPs demanded that the General Court declare the incompatibility of the positions of MEP and Spanish autonomous community MP and that it should be left clear that Puigdemont and Comín were not entitled to receive any remuneration from July 2nd until the day they took office, demanding that any salary they had received in this period be reimbursed with interest.
The Vox claim also demanded the reports prepared on the European Court of Justice ruling in relation to the seat of pro-independence politician Oriol Junqueras on December 19th, 2019, which ended up opening the door of the European Parliament to the other two Catalan deputies, and on the exact date on which Puigdemont and Comín resigned the seats they had earlier been elected to in the Parliament of Catalonia.
Finally, the far-right politicians demanded that the European Parliament's finance directorate should be required to report on the remuneration received by Puigdemont and Comín and on third parties as a result of their status as MEPs, and that a report be requested from Spain's Central Electoral Commission on the date and time when the two pro-independence politicians met the requirements imposed by the LOREG to take possession of the seat.
Elected in May 2019
Carles Puigdemont and Toni Comín, Catalan politicians in exile since Catalonia's controversial independence referendum and declaration in October 2017, stood and were successful in the European Parliamentary elections on May 26th 2019, as was their jailed pro-independence colleague Oriol Junqueras. From exile and jail, none of the three were able to meet the conditions imposed by Spain on taking up their MEP seats, but in December last year, the European Court of Justice ruled that, despite this, Junqueras - and by extension the other two - had been duly elected as MEPs with all the rights of parliamentarians. Accordingly, Puigdemont and Comín took up their seats in January. Junqueras has so far been unable to do so, although legal appeals are continuing.