Asier Martínez Jurio-Aquí Europa
The Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) has definitively annulled the appeal filed by former Catalan president Carles Puigdemont and former minister Toni Comín in relation to the refusal of the then president of the European Parliament, Antonio Tajani, to recognize their status as MEPs in June 2019.
According to the CJEU, contrary to what Puigdemont and Comín claimed, it is true that the president of the European Parliament cannot ignore the list of candidates sent by the member country. In addition, the judges affirm that this list can only be presented by the corresponding Spanish courts.
“The president of the Parliament limited himself to doing what he was obliged to do: take note of the list of elected deputies notified by the Spanish authorities,” confirms the CJEU. Tajani claimed that their names did not appear on the list of elected candidates notified by the Spanish authorities.
Tajani’s successor, David Sassoli, did recognise them as MEPs following another ruling by the CJEU on Oriol Junqueras. However, in the current legislature, President Roberta Metsola has again refused to elect them for the same reasons as Tajani and they have again submitted to the ruling by the CJEU.
“Indeed, the President of Parliament has no power to control the accuracy of this list, under penalty of violating the distribution of powers between the Union and the Member States. Such control is the exclusive responsibility of the national courts,” the document states.
“The President of Parliament merely did what he was obliged to do: take note of the list of elected deputies notified by the Spanish authorities, which for him constituted a pre-existing situation derived from decisions that had been taken at national level,” it adds.
