ADVERTISEMENT

Spain Can’t Thwart Jailed Catalan MEP, EU Court Adviser Warns

Spain Can’t Thwart Jailed Catalan MEP, EU Court Adviser Warns

(Bloomberg) -- A mixed opinion issued Tuesday from an adviser to the European Union’s top court gives some grounds to celebrate for both separatists in the Catalonia region as well as the national government in Madrid.

An adviser to the EU Court of Justice agreed with Catalan separatists that one of its jailed leaders, Oriol Junqueras, is a member of the European Parliament -- something that Spain disputes. But Catalan separatists were hoping the adviser would issue a clear-cut argument that as a member of the European Parliament, Junqueras is granted immunity from a jail sentence in Spain.

That’s less clear and should ultimately probably be decided by the European Parliament, Advocate General Maciej Szpunar of the Luxembourg-based court said in his non-binding opinion on Tuesday. The lack of clarity raises the stakes for the Court’s decision, which is expected within around six months. While opinions from the advocates general aren’t binding, the EU court follows them in a majority of cases.

Spain Can’t Thwart Jailed Catalan MEP, EU Court Adviser Warns

Madrid is likely to welcome the fact that the adviser didn’t issue a straightforward opinion on whether Junqueras has immunity. Spain argues that he has no immunity because he wasn’t able to assume his role as a member of the EU Parliament. Junqueras should remain in jail, Spain says, after a Spanish court sentenced him to 13 years for his role organizing an illegal referendum on Catalonia’s independence in 2017.

The opinion is sure to rekindle the fury among Catalan separatists over the Spanish court decision to send Junqueras and other pro-independence leaders to jail. Initial anger lead to violent protests last month in Barcelona and elsewhere in the Catalonia region. Sporadic protests have continued since then.

Spain must “refrain from any measure which might obstruct the necessary steps” of a member of the EU Parliament to take up his duties, Advocate General Szpunar said. There’s nothing in EU law that makes a member’s start of his or her mandate dependent on them attending the European Parliament’s inaugural session, according to the opinion. Junqueras missed that as he was detained pending trial in Spain for his role in the illegal referendum.

Spanish acting Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez is trying to figure out how to form a government after Spain held general elections on Sunday that left the country’s parliament even more divided than before.

Sanchez might end up needing the help of Junqueras and his party to clinch a second term as prime minister and the opinion could further complicate those efforts.

To contact the reporters on this story: Stephanie Bodoni in London at sbodoni@bloomberg.net;Jeannette Neumann in Madrid at jneumann25@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Anthony Aarons at aaarons@bloomberg.net, Peter Chapman, Jeannette Neumann

©2019 Bloomberg L.P.