The European Parliament has called on the General Court of the European Union (EGC) to waive the immunity from prosecution of the three exiled Catalan MEPs - Carles Puigdemont, Toni Comín and Clara Ponsatí. Earlier this June, the court reinstated their immunity as an urgent interim measure before it had heard the Parliament's comments on the issue, having heard and accepted on a precautionary basis the appeals of the three politicians against the suspension of their parliamentary immunity.
Now, as the ACN agency has learned, the chamber's legal services have sent their submission on the request for the interim measure, and have demanded that the parliamentary protection be once again withdrawn while the court resolves the substantive demand in the case. The EU court of first instance will now have to assess whether the immunity of the MEPs continues to be in force for the meantime, or whether it is withdrawn again as requested by Parliament.
"Real and imminent risk" of arrests
Two weeks ago, the EGC returned the parliamentary immunity to the three pro-independence politicians on a precautionary basis. In asking for this measure, Puigdemont, Comín and Ponsatí warned of the "real and imminent risk" of being arrested and imprisoned "preventing them from being able to represent European citizens for the rest of their term". In particular, they warned of the risk of being arrested in France, now that the European Parliament is resuming plenary sessions at its Strasbourg base.
The European Parliament has called on the EU General Court to waive the immunity of MEPs Puigdemont, Comín and Ponsatí. / ACN
As the European Parliament had not yet been able to present its allegations, the court chose to reimpose the immunity as an urgent interim measure. "The factual and legal allegations of the applicants, assuming that they are finally proven, justify maintaining the status quo until the vice-president of the General Court examines the arguments in more detail and resolves definitively the application of the interim measure,” the EGC said in it ruling earlier this month.
Now that it has Parliament's submission on the matter, the Luxembourg-based court of first instance will have to decide whether there is sufficient evidence to grant the interim measures more firmly.
Main image: Catalan president in exile and MEP for Junts, Carles Puigdemont, and his fellow Catalan MEPs Toni Comín and Clara Ponsatí. / Efe