JAILED Oriol Junqueras, the former Catalan vice-president, has asked the European Union to let him take up the parliamentary seat he won in May’s election to the Strasbourg Parliament.
Spanish authorities omitted his name from the list of MEPs representing Spain, but the leader of the Republican Left of Catalonia (ERC) has argued that the European chamber recognised him as a MEP in its official gazette.
In his appeal to the European Parliament’s committee on legal affairs, he urged them to “invite” Spain to recognise the list of MEPs it published after the election.
READ MORE: Latest Catalan detentions are part of 'dirty war', supporter says
Not to do so would, he said, create a “legal vacuum” in which EU states could deviate from official election results when it suited them.
Spain requires elected representatives to appear in person in Madrid to take an oath on the constitution, but authorities refused permission for Junqueras to leave prison to do so.
He is awaiting a verdict after the trial over the 2017 independence referendum, and called on the committee to declare the requirement “contrary to European law”.
Junqueras is also awaiting a hearing in two weeks at the European Court of Justice (ECJ) in Luxembourg on whether or not he has parliamentary immunity as an MEP even though he has not been able to take up his seat.
Meanwhile, it has been revealed that other pro-indy figures who are also awaiting verdicts will stand in the Spanish general election on November 10 under the Together for Catalonia (JxCat) banner.
Laura Borrqs, JxCat’s spokesperson at the Spanish congress, said Jordi Sanchez, Jordi Turull, Josep Rull and Joaquim Forn will be on the JxCat list for the poll.
Speaking in front of Lledoners prison, where the male inmates are being held, she said: “We will go to Madrid to continue doing what we have done these five months.”
Borras said the independence camp was committed to democracy, human rights and non-violence, and insisted on the indy project because they believed it was “the most social project for Catalonia”.
Catalan President Quim Torra (below) said Catalan MPs intended to return to the Spanish Congress with the same goals after the new election.
“If we have to vote again no to president Sanchez, we will vote no,” he said.
“We can go back to saying that we will do it again. The only one who has failed has been president Sanchez for failing to get an investiture agreement and to have called for new elections.”
Pro-indy Catalan and Basque parties forced Sanchez into a snap poll earlier this year when they refused to help him pass his budget.
That resulted in his Socialists (PSOE) winning, but not by enough to form a government without a coalition-type arrangement. November’s election was triggered when Sanchez similarly failed to reach agreement with any potential allies to have him installed as prime minister.
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