The EU Advocate General, Maciej Szpunarhas recommended to the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) to reject the appeal of Oriol Junqueras against the filing of his lawsuit over the decision of the European Parliament to withdraw his seat. A new setback in Junqueras’s attempts to recover the seat won in the same elections as Carles Puigdemontand that he never occupied because he was in provisional prison awaiting trial for the process.
In other words, Szpunar proposes that the initial decision to reject Junqueras’ appeal that the General Court of the European Union (TGUE) issued in the first instance be confirmed.
According to Szpunar’s preliminary analysis, the appeal is inadmissible and the then President of the European Parliament, David Sassoli, acted correctly by declaring his seat vacant. ERC has been quick to point out, however, that the opinion of the attorney general “is not binding, and therefore we must wait for the resolution” of the CJEU.
CKD does not give up
The Republicans also highlight that the attorney general “admits that the Supreme Court may have violated the principle of lean cooperation with the institutions of the Union.” ERC “values very positively” this position.
A route that Junqueras’ legal team, led by Andreu Van den Eyne, “considers using as an argument for a possible appeal before the European Court of Human Rights.” The legal battle, therefore, will continue.
For now, the CJEU must still decide on this appeal. If he considers it, contrary to the opinion of the general counsel, the case would return to the General Court of the EU, which would have to rule on the merits of the matter. If it does not, the resolution will put an end to the resources before the European justice, “without prejudice to the other procedures that may be opened” warn from ERC.
Battle since 2019
The legal battle began with the European elections of May 2019, to which Junqueras attended despite being in preventive detention awaiting trial. The first appeal was against the refusal of the Supreme Court to grant permission to leave prison and take possession of the European seat, which would have granted him immunity, according to the independentistas.
The CJEU endorsed this thesis the following December, reproaching the Supreme Court for not having allowed him to leave prison at a time when he had not yet been tried. But two weeks later the Central Electoral Board declared the Catalan politician ineligible for having been sentenced to a prison sentence.
In an order from January 2020, the Supreme Court considered that it was not appropriate to authorize Junqueras to travel to the seat of Parliament, agree on his release, or declare the nullity of the sentence of the process. He also made it clear that given the stage of the criminal proceedings against Junqueras at the time of the elections, he did not enjoy parliamentary immunity under Spanish law.
In view of this order, the then President of the European Parliament, David Sassoli, agreed to award the seat to the next on the ERC list, Jordi Solé.
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