FILE PHOTO: Carles Puigdemont, leader of Catalan separatist party Junts and its secretary general Jordi Turull, make their way as Puigdemont returns to Spain from seven years of self-imposed exile despite a pending warrant for his arrest, during a welcoming event organised by his party in Barcelona, Spain, August 8, 2024. REUTERS/Nacho Doce/File Photo
BRUSSELS (Reuters) - The EU Court of Justice has rejected an appeal by Catalan separatist leaders Carles Puigdemont and Toni Comin who both sought recognition as European Parliament members after being denied in June 2019, the court said on Thursday.
Despite being elected in the 2019 European Parliament elections, their status was eventually not recognised due to their failure to take an oath pledging to respect the Spanish constitution, a procedure normally done in person in Madrid, as is required of newly-elected MEPs ahead of taking up their seat.
The ruling upheld an earlier judgment by the EU's General Court that waived the immunity that Puigdemont and Comin would hold as MEPs.
"The General Court correctly held that the President of the European Parliament could not depart from the list of elected Members which had been officially notified to him by the Spanish authorities," the Court of Justice said in its judgement.
Jordi Turull, secretary-general of Puigdemont's and Comin's party Junts, which campaigns for independence from Spain for Catalonia, said on X: "We will continue fighting and persisting on every front to give voice and vote to what the ballot boxes said."
Puigdemont fled Spain in 2017 to avoid prosecution following a short-lived declaration of independence for Catalonia that prompted Madrid to take direct control of the region.
Comin was re-elected to the European Parliament in this year's elections in June and again refused to take the constitutional oath in Madrid.
The separatist leaders both live in self-imposed exile. The ruling may open the door for their eventual extradition to Spain.
In July, Spain's Supreme Court upheld arrest warrants for Puigdemont, Comin and others charged with embezzlement over the region's failed secession bid, as it ruled that a recent amnesty law does not apply to them.
(Reporting by Charlotte Van Campenhout, Joan Faus; Editing by Ros Russell)
