MADRID – The European Parliament has withdrawn the immunity of Carles Puigdemont, the former separatist leader from Catalonia, paving the way for Spain to make a new attempt to extradite him from Belgium and try him for sedition.
The European Parliament said on Tuesday that a majority of its members had voted the day before in a secret ballot to remove the immunity of Puigdemont and two other Catalan members of the assembly facing charges in Spain related to a failed attempt to declare the independence in 2017. The Spanish judiciary accused his offer of unconstitutionality.
The vote on Monday ended a long battle between Puigdemont and his colleagues to use their protection as elected members of the European assembly to protect them from prosecutions in Spain. It is now up to the Belgian judiciary to decide whether Puigdemont should be sent back to the Spanish capital, Madrid, to stand trial.
“It is a sad day for the European Parliament,” said Puigdemont. “We lost our immunity, but the European Parliament lost more than that and, as a result, European democracy too,” he said, adding that this was “a clear case of political process”.
The Spanish government welcomed the vote.
“Catalonia’s problems will not be solved in Europe or by Europe. They have to be resolved in Spain, bringing together all the Catalan forces around the table, ”said Foreign Minister Arancha González Laya. The vote showed that the European Parliament has “respect for the work of the judiciary in our country”, he added.
The European Parliament’s decision comes just weeks after the regional elections in Catalonia, which have increased the majority of pro-independence parties in the regional Parliament. Separatist politicians have been in control since 2015, but the separatist conflict has divided Catalan society, while it remains a highly contentious issue in national politics.
Puigdemont and some of his colleagues have been in Brussels since October 2017, shortly after the Spanish central government sacked its regional government for holding a referendum that Spanish courts deemed illegal and then declaring Catalonia’s independence.
During the past three years, Mr. Puigdemont has successfully resisted attempts to extradite him from Belgium and Germany, where he was briefly detained while traveling.
In January, judges in Belgium also rejected an extradition request from another former member of Catalonia’s regional government, Lluis Puig, who faces similar charges in Spain. The Belgian court argued that the Spanish Supreme Court had no legal authority to issue an arrest warrant against Puig, adding that he should be tried in a regional court.
Part of the former Puigdemont government, however, remained in Spain and was tried by the country’s Supreme Court. Nine Catalans received prison sentences after being convicted of crimes, including sedition and misuse of public funds.
A former Catalan leader, Oriol Junqueras, was also prevented by Spain’s highest court from taking his seat in the European Parliament. He and Mr. Puigdemont were elected to the assembly in 2019.
The European Parliament vote will allow a Spanish judge to reactivate a European arrest warrant against Puigdemont, which was suspended in early 2020, when Puigdemont and his colleagues took a seat in the European Assembly.
Catalan leaders are not the first members of the European Parliament to lose immunity.
In 2019, the European Parliament withdrew the immunity of Jean-Marie Le Pen, founder of the far-right National Front party in France. He is still analyzing the case of Ioannis Lagos, who was convicted in Greece last year for his activities with the far-right Golden Dawn party. The Greek government considers Golden Dawn to be a criminal organization.
The Catalan case divided politicians in Brussels, many of whom hate to set a precedent for lawmakers to be tried for political activities. The withdrawal of Puigdemont’s immunity was approved by three-fifths of the members of the European Parliament.
It could take months for the Belgian courts to decide on Spain’s latest attempt to extradite Puigdemont and the other two Catalan leaders, Antoni Comín and Clara Ponsatí.
The Brussels Public Prosecutor’s Office is examining the possibility of renewing legal proceedings in Belgium, said a spokeswoman for the office.
If Belgian courts block the extradition request, Catalans will continue to have a seat in the European Parliament, but without special immunity rights.