The Diplomat
The advocate general of the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU), Jean Richard de la Tour, warned yesterday that Belgian Justice cannot refuse the surrender of former Catalan president Carles Puigdemont and other politicians involved in the Procés if it does not demonstrate “systemic and widespread deficiencies” in Spain’s judicial system.
In an opinion published yesterday, the lawyer warned that Belgium cannot reject the European Arrest Warrants (EAW) issued by Supreme Court judge Pablo Llarena against the 1-O defendants based on the risk that their fundamental rights will be violated, because to do so it must demonstrate that there are “systemic or widespread deficiencies in the functioning of the judicial system of the issuing member state,” namely Spain. “If there are no such deficiencies, a refusal of enforcement cannot be based on the allegation that the issuing court lacks jurisdiction to issue such an order and to prosecute the requested person,” says the opinion, which also warns, therefore, that Belgium cannot call into question the powers of the Supreme Court as the authority to issue the EAW.
The advocate general’s opinions are not binding, but the CJEU usually takes his recommendations into account in the vast majority of cases. In contrast, the Court’s rulings are binding, so in the event that this interpretation of the advocate general is confirmed – which could happen after the summer – Belgium would be obliged to act accordingly.
With this opinion, the advocate general has given the reason to Llarena, who had turned to the European Justice to clarify the scope of the issuance of the EAW issued by the Supreme Court against the defendants for the Procés and to know Belgium’s reasons for refusing their execution. Specifically, Llarena addressed the preliminary question to the CJEU in March 2021, two months after the Belgian Court of Appeal refused to surrender the former minister Lluis Puig on the grounds that the extradition order should have come from the High Court of Justice of Catalonia and that his fundamental rights could be at risk, in particular the right to the presumption of innocence.
Therefore, De la Tour’s decision could expedite the execution of the European warrant issued against Puigdemont and against the exconsellers Clara Ponsatí and Toni Comín, all of them fugitives in Belgium since October 2017, for the alleged crimes of sedition and embezzlement. At the moment, the European warrant against the Catalan ex-president is paralyzed due to his status as an MEP. The European Parliament lifted Puigdemont’s immunity in March 2021, but the former president of the Generalitat filed an appeal before the CJEU, which restored his immunity temporarily pending the issuance of the final ruling.
After learning of the ruling, Puigdemont expressed his rejection of the decision of the advocate general of the CJEU and assured that he will continue to fight “until the end”. “In any case, we will have to walk a path that we have walked before, with more experience than before,” he assured through his Twitter account. “We will fight for every right and for every option, until the end and without giving up, without giving up,” he added. For his part, the lawyer Gonzalo Boye, who leads the defense of the former Catalan president, denounced that the conclusions of De la Tour suppose “a denial” of individual rights but “do not imply a future surrender of the exiles”.
The PP spokeswoman in Brussels, Dolors Montserrat, affirmed that the decision of the advocate general is “very good news for democrats in the face of fugitives from justice”. “We wish that the Court of Justice of the EU goes in the same direction and rules soon”, she added in a statement. For his part, the president of the Supreme Court and of the General Council of the Judiciary (CGPJ), Carlos Lesmes, stated that he “did not expect anything else” because the EAW is based “on trust” between States and “no State can enter into distrust towards others in order not to comply with one of its mandates”.
