President was right to bar Catalan separatists from European Parliament, EU top court rules

Former European Parliament President Antonio Tajani was justified in refusing to recognize Catalan separatist lawmakers Carles Puigdemont and Toni Comín as members of the Parliament, the Court of Justice of the European Union ruled Thursday.

Spanish law requires MEPs-elect to travel to the national parliament in Madrid and declare their allegiance to the constitution in order to be certified, but the separatist politicians declined to do so after winning seats in the 2019 European election, citing fears they would be arrested for their roles in the failed 2017 Catalan independence referendum.

Because they refused to take the vow, Spanish authorities left Puigdemont and Comín’s names off the official list of MEPs-elect that Spain sent to the Parliament, and Tajani subsequently decided to withhold their credentials and bar them from entering the institution’s buildings.

The politicians were only admitted to the Parliament by Tajani’s successor, David Sassoli, in January 2020, after the EU’s top court reaffirmed the immunity of elected MEPs and ruled member countries had no right to ban them from taking their seats.

In its latest ruling, the Court of Justice said that the Parliament’s president can only recognize the MEPs whose names appear on the official list of elected lawmakers provided by national authorities. Tajani had “no power to review the accuracy of that list” and “did what he was required to do,” the justices concluded.

The court’s final ruling came as a surprise because it went against the blistering nonbinding opinion issued by Advocate General Maciej Szpunar earlier this year, in which the court’s legal adviser argued Tajani had breached EU law by disregarding the election’s results and bowing to Spanish authorities.

Thursday’s decision raises questions as to whether Comín, who was re-elected to the Parliament in last June’s election, will be able to take his seat.

After the separatist politician once again refused to travel to Madrid to take the required oath, Spanish authorities omitted his name from the official list relayed to the Parliament. In July European Parliament President Roberta Metsola initially declined to recognize Comín as an MEP, opting to await the court’s ruling on the matter.

On Thursday the president’s spokesperson told POLITICO that the Parliament had taken note of the judgment and instructed its legal services to examine its implications “in depth.”