The vote of the European Parliament: the political component is back

[chandon55]

In contrast to the unease of EU Member States in refusing the surrenders, Switzerland, not bound by the European arrest warrant system, bluntly warned – following rumors of an international arrest warrant for Marta Rovira, a former Catalan MP in exile there – that they would not grant extradition for political crimes.

The political dimension of the surrenders surrounding Catalan leaders phone number library took a new turn when the CJEU was seised with the case of Oriol Junqueras, a Catalan leader who had remained in Spain following the independence referendum.

He was elected as MEP in the 2019 European elections, but was barred from leaving prison to take his oath of allegiance to the Spanish Constitution, a necessary requirement under Spanish law for him to get his accreditation. Junqueras brought an action to the Spanish Supreme Court, claiming he had immunity under the Protocol on the privileges and immunities of the EU. The Supreme Court in turn deferred the matter to the CJEU through a reference for preliminary ruling, on which the latter ruled that immunity starts as soon as the election results are officially declared, and that should Spain want to prosecute Junqueras, it would need to introduce a request for a waiver of that immunity. Spain did that, not only for Junqueras, but also for Comin and Ponsati who were also MEPs-elect targeted by European arrest warrants.