European justice continues to turn its back on the president of the Esquerra Republicana de Catalunya, Oriol Junqueras. This time he was the Advocate General of the Court of Justice of the EUMaciej Szpunar, who has recommended to the European court that it reject the appeal filed by the republican leader against the decision of the General Court to dismiss his complaint, as a result of the decision of the European Parliament that took note of the attribution of the seat obtained by Junqueras in the last European elections to his colleague Jordi Solé. According to the preliminary analysis, the appeal is inadmissible and the then President of the European Parliament, David Sasoliacted correctly by declaring his seat vacant.
Junqueras was elected MEP in the European elections of May 2019. The result was proclaimed by the Central Electoral Board on June 13, but as he did not receive permission from the Supreme Court to abide by the Constitution, as required by Spanish national regulations to all those elected, his seat was declared vacant a week later. Five months later, the independence leader was sentenced by the Supreme Court to 13 years in prison and as many others of absolute disqualification, which prevents him from accessing public office.
The decision marked the beginning of a legal battle which led the CJEU to rule in December of that year, in a first slap on the wrist to the Supreme Court, that the leader of the ERC should have been recognized as a MEP since the proclamation of the results of the European elections and enjoy immunity. A day later, the ERC MEP, Diana Riba, asked the then President of the European Parliament, David Sassoli, to urgently adopt measures to confirm Junqueras’s immunity.
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Two weeks later, the Central Electoral Board declared the Catalan politician ineligible for having been sentenced to jail. In an order on January 9, 2020, the Supreme Court considered that it was not appropriate to authorize Junqueras to travel to the seat of Parliament, or agree on his release, or declare the nullity of the judgment of October 14, 2019, or process the request waiver of parliamentary immunity before Parliament. In addition, it considered that, given the stage of the criminal proceedings against Junqueras at the time of his election to Parliament, this did not enjoy parliamentary immunity under Spanish law.
The president of the European Parliament then declared the seat vacant, which led Junqueras to file an appeal before the General Court that was declared inadmissible in December 2020. Junqueras then decided to appeal. A resource that leads a priori the same way as the previous ones since the judges usually follow the recommendation in most things. The attorney general, who recommends rejecting this new attempt in a procedure that would exhaust the way in Luxembourg, considers that the president of the European Parliament was correct in informing the plenary session of the European Parliament of the end of the politician’s mandate as a result of his being sentenced in the judgments of the process. He also rejects the claims of Junqueras’ defense that the European Parliament did not have the power to review the cause of incompatibility that led to the loss of the seat and concludes that the General Court acted correctly.