The lower chamber of Spain's parliament on Friday suspended Oriol Junqueras and three colleagues from their recently gained seats as national lawmakers because they are currently in jail during an ongoing trial in Spain's Supreme Court.

They face up to 25 years in prison for rebellion charges that stem from a banned referendum and an independence declaration made by the separatist-controlled Catalan government in late 2017.

But Junqueras is also running for the European Parliament in elections that take place on Sunday, and polls say that he and his former boss, Carles Puigdemont, who unlike Junqueras fled the country to avoid arrest, have a chance of being elected.

Even so, the Catalan separatists face several legal hurdles to be sworn in as European lawmakers.

"The sole fact that a European lawmaker and a candidate to the presidency of the European Commission is a political prisoner of one of the European Union's member states is a very powerful message in favour of democracy, fundamental rights and freedoms not only in Catalonia but in all Europe," Junqueras told The Associated Press on Friday.

The Spanish government has repeatedly rejected the term "political prisoner" to refer to the prosecuted Catalan separatists, pointing out that they were jailed by independent courts according to legal provisions in the country.

The government also often reiterates that political parties openly advocating for secession are legal in the country, but the only way to achieve independence for a region like northeastern Catalonia is by reforming the country's 1978 constitution, which currently prohibits the secession of a region unless all Spaniards vote on it.

Junqueras spoke via video conference from a jail on the outskirts of Madrid shortly before the widely expected announcement that he would be suspended as a Spanish lawmaker.

Speaker Meritxell Batet announced that the governing body of the Congress of Deputies had ruled for the suspension in line with the country's criminal code, which bans those indicted for rebellion or terrorism-related charges and in preventive custody from holding public office.

The ruling also applies to Josep Rull, Jordi Sanchez and Jordi Turull, with the four belonging to Puigdemont's conservative JxCat party. Spain's Supreme Court granted them permission earlier this week to attend — escorted by police — the opening parliamentary sessions of the new legislative term.

The four politicians as well as Raul Romeva — who won a seat in the Senate — were elected last month in the vote that saw caretaker Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez's Socialist party win the most seats but fall well short of a majority.

Junqueras, the 50-year-old former vice-president of the Catalan regional government, who was previously a European lawmaker between 2009 and 2012, told AP that Friday's suspension in Spain doesn't affect him because he was planning to give up his seat anyway: members of the European Parliament can't hold certain public offices in their home countries.

Junqueras is the lead candidate in the European elections of Ahora Republicans, a coalition of a Catalan and other small regionalist parties in Spain.

Junqueras said he hopes Spain's Supreme Court will allow him to travel to the European Parliament in Strasbourg, France, for the opening session in July.

"For me, it will be a pleasure to return to the European Parliament," he said, because that would allow him rejoin former colleagues in the bloc's assembly and "explain to them firsthand the deep injustice that innocent people are in prison."

While Junqueras said that if his attempt to become a European lawmaker is blocked he will appeal it in court, Puigdemont faces even greater potential challenges to join him in the continental legislature.

According to an internal report by the European Parliament's legal services that the AP has had access to, Puigdemont would have to return to Spain to be officially included in the list of its elected European lawmakers and thereby face arrest.

Despite the chaos caused by the Brexit referendum in the U.K., Junqueras is not wavering in his belief that the solution to the Catalan question is a regional vote on independence.

Election results and polls indicate that the 7.5 million residents of the Catalonia region are roughly split down the middle by the secession question. </s> Spain has inaugurated the most female-dominated cabinet in the world, as 11 women and six men took their positions in Pedro Sánchez's new centre-Left government.

Spain has inaugurated the most female-dominated cabinet in the world, as 11 women and six men took their positions in Pedro Sánchez's new centre-Left government.

Mr Sánchez, who took power last week following a dramatic vote of no confidence in the government of Mariano Rajoy, was widely applauded for advancing equality with the appointments, which put female ministers in key portfolios such as the treasury and defence.

At almost 65pc female, the Spanish cabinet now leads the world in the proportion of women ministers. Mr Sánchez acknowledged the political influence of the unprecedented strike on International Women's Day on March 8, when millions of Spanish women abandoned their workplaces and homes for the streets, describing it as a watershed moment for social progress.

After unveiling his cabinet, he said it was a government "committed to equality" that for the first time gave the weight of economic responsibility to women. Thirteen ministers referred to the cabinet as the "Consejo de Ministras y Ministros" - putting the feminine form of the noun first instead of the traditional use of the masculine form for both genders.

"We greet the most feminist government in the world," said the Madrid-based organisation, the Communication and Gender Agency. "If you doubt their credentials, check their CVs. And now let them work."

Among the appointees are María Jesús Montero, the new head of the treasury, Margarita Robles at the defence ministry, Dolores Delgado as minister of justice and Carmen Calvo, who, as well as her roles as vice-president of the government and minister for equality will also oversee parliamentary relations. Brussels has been particularly pleased with the selection of Nadia Calviño, the European Commission's director general for budgets, to head the ministry of economic affairs.

She is regarded as one of several appointments designed to reassure Europe over the new administration, which won power in a lightening assault on the Rajoy government but must rule with the smallest minority since Spain's transition to democracy in 1978.

The choice of Josep Borrell, a former president of the European Parliament who in recent years has taken a hardline stance against the Catalan independence movement, has also been lauded in Brussels. </s> Spain's new female-dominated government cabinet was sworn in on Thursday, putting the cap on one of the fastest power transitions in the country's four decades of democratic rule.

Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez's new Socialist government has the most female ministers in Spanish and European history.

It is comprised of 11 female ministers - overseeing key areas such as the national economy, finance and defense - and six men.

He has defined his government as feminist, progressive, pro-European and 'a loyal reflection of the best in the society that it aspires to serve.'

Women represented 64.7 percent of the new Cabinet, above the 62.5 percent that the Finnish government scored in 2015 according to the statistics of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development.

Most of the new ministers referred to the female majority in their oath-taking on Thursday before King Felipe VI.

Sanchez, 46, a former economics professor who leads the Spanish Socialist Workers' Party, replaced Rajoy last week.

A court ruling over a kickbacks-for-contracts scheme involving the conservative Popular Party prompted a no confidence vote against Mariano Rajoy, prime minister since 2011.

Sanchez, 46, a former economics professor who leads the Spanish Socialist Workers' Party, replaced Rajoy last week.

Only five women served in the last Cabinet under Rajoy.

But with just 84 seats in Spain's 350-seat parliament, Sanchez's administration also has the smallest representation of any government since the country returned to democracy and it is not expected to last until the end of its mandate in 2020.

Carmen Calvo, an expert in constitutional law and former culture minister, will be Sanchez's deputy prime minister and also in charge of the resurrected Ministry of Equality.

The government 'has to work to reduce inequalities and achieve great equality, which affects men and women,' Calvo said on Friday in a brief ceremony to take over the government's no. 2 position from Soraya Saenz de Santamaria.

Nadia Calvino, who has been director general for the budget at the European Union's Commission since 2014, was appointed as the minister in charge of the eurozone's fourth largest economy.

Margarita Robles was named defense minister, and Maria Jesus Montero will be finance minister.

The posts of justice minister, health minister and education minister also went to women.

The push for Catalan independence, which haunted Rajoy during the last eight months of the outgoing government, will be one of the key challenges of the new administration.

Meritxell Batet, a Catalan lawmaker and legal expert on the country's constitution, will be charged with dealing with Catalonia's desire for further autonomy as the new minister of public administration.

The previously announced appointment of Josep Borrell, the former European Parliament president and a pro-Spanish unity Catalan politician, as foreign minister, irked some separatists.

Sanchez has promised to open talks with a new regional cabinet in the prosperous northeastern region.

But he has said that any solution must fit within Spain's Constitution, which calls the nation 'indivisible' and says national sovereignty resides in the Madrid-based parliament. </s> MADRID (AP) — A fragmented Spanish Parliament convened Tuesday after last month’s inconclusive general election, including for the first time Catalan politicians released from pre-trial detention for the occasion, as well as two dozen lawmakers…

MADRID (AP) — A fragmented Spanish Parliament convened Tuesday after last month’s inconclusive general election, including for the first time Catalan politicians released from pre-trial detention for the occasion, as well as two dozen lawmakers from an upstart far-right party.

Socialist leader Pedro Sánchez won the national election but fell short of enough seats to form a government on his own. He has put off negotiations on governing alliances until after the European ballot concludes on Sunday, which in Spain coincides with votes to elect local councils and a dozen regional governments.

Escorted by police, four separatists on trial for Catalonia’s 2017 secession attempt, including former Catalan regional Vice President Oriol Junqueras, appeared in the Congress of Deputies, while former Catalan regional minister for international relations Raül Romeva was ferried to the Senate from a jail some 40 kilometers outside of Madrid.

The Supreme Court has allowed them to attend the opening sessions in Madrid but they are likely to be barred from future meetings by the chambers’ governing bodies elected on Tuesday.

Dressed in suits and exchanging embraces and greetings with other lawmakers, Junqueras and the three others took seats in the Congress of Deputies among political opponents, including two far-right Vox party deputies who are also prosecutors in their ongoing trial for rebellion and other charges that could land them in prison for decades.

Vox is the first parliamentary party that openly espouses Spanish nationalism since dictator Gen. Francisco Franco died in 1975. It wants to use its 24 seats among the 350 lower house lawmakers to propose legal reforms on abortion, violence against women and migration.

The eruption of Vox in the late April election split the right-wing vote into three groups, which together fell short of the 176 majority. As a result, competition for the leadership of the opposition has intensified between two parties — the once-dominant conservative Popular Party and the center-right Citizens.

The Socialists were the leading party in the election with 123 seats. But with Citizens ruling out any pacts to support a Socialist administration, Sánchez’s efforts to form a government are centered on the anti-austerity Unidas Podemos, which holds 42 seats, and some other smaller groups.

Those votes were key on Tuesday in the election of Socialist lawmakers from Catalonia was speakers of both houses: Meritxell Batet in the Congress of Deputies and Manuel Cruz in the Senate.

Sánchez said they had been proposed because both are “loyal to Spain” and because they have shown “an unwavering vocation for dialogue.”

“They are Catalans at the service of Spain and Spaniards at the service of Catalonia,” the prime minister told his Socialist lawmakers.

The speakers’ first task will be meeting with their governing bodies and deciding whether to suspend the elected separatist lawmakers because they are in jail while awaiting trial.

Tuesday’s unconventional session provided a number of odd situations to satisfy media camera lenses. Vox’s deputies chose to take seats that in past sessions had been occupied by the Socialists, placing the far-right party’s leader, Santiago Abascal, right behind Sánchez and other members of the Socialists’ caretaker government.

Sánchez greeted Abascal with a handshake. The Socialist leader also shook hands with Junqueras, who has become a symbol for pro-independence supporters in the northeastern Catalonia region.

Two Socialist lawmakers also made the rounds on social media when they posed near Abascal in T-shirts bearing an emoji with the rainbow flag. The icon has become popular and has been dubbed “Gaysper” after Vox used it during last month’s general election to target defenders of gay rights in a viral tweet.

Copyright © 2019 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, written or redistributed. </s> Spain's parliament has suspended four Catalan lawmakers elected while facing trial over their role in the failed 2017 push for independence.

In a move that could benefit acting Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez, the four men – who are being held in custody – will no longer be parliamentarians.

Oriol Junqueras, Jordi Turull, Josep Rull and Jordi Sanchez now need to either vacate their seats in parliament, or resign.

Sanchez's Socialists came out on top in last month's general elections, but failed to secure a majority in the assembly.

The suspension could reduce the threshold of an absolute majority that he needs in Congress, or in the lower house, to be sworn in for a second term.

If the lawmakers cede their seats to replacements, Sanchez would once again need the help of Catalan separatist parties to be sworn in.

An investiture vote is expected in the first week of July. </s> Image copyright Reuters Image caption Pedro Sanchez had refused to make a deal

The leader of Spain's opposition Socialists, Pedro Sanchez, has resigned, in a move that could end months of political deadlock.

Mr Sanchez stood down after losing a vote by the party's federal committee over supporting the formation of a conservative-led governing coalition - a move he had strongly opposed.

The past week had already seen almost half of the party's executive resign.

Spain has been in a political limbo for the past nine months.

The results of a general election in December 2015 left a hung parliament. The majority Popular Party (PP) under acting Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy has sought to form a coalition government but Mr Sanchez repeatedly blocked their attempts.

In attempt to break the stalemate, a second election was held on 26 June 2016 but, again, no party won an absolute majority.

The Socialist Party (PSOE) has long been divided between supporters of Mr Sanchez and those who want to end the stalemate by supporting a coalition.

Many delegates at Saturday's federal committee meeting at party headquarters in Madrid had turned up hoping to force Mr Sanchez out.

On Wednesday, 17 of the 35 members of the PSOE executive resigned in protest at Mr Sanchez's stance. </s> Women represented 64.7 percent of the new Cabinet, above the 62.5 percent that the Finnish government scored in 2015 according to the statistics of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development.

Most of the new ministers referred to the female majority in their oath-taking on Thursday before King Felipe VI.

A court ruling over a kickbacks-for-contracts scheme involving the conservative Popular Party prompted a no confidence vote against Mariano Rajoy, prime minister since 2011.

Sanchez replaced Rajoy last week. He has defined his government as feminist, progressive, pro-European and “a loyal reflection of the best in the society that it aspires to serve.”

Spanish minister for economic affairs Nadia Calvino takes oath of office in presence of Spain’s King Felipe VI at La Zarzuela palace in Madrid on June 7, 2018.J. J. Guillen / AFP – Getty Images

Carmen Calvo, an expert in constitutional law and former culture minister, will be Sanchez’s deputy prime minister and also in charge of the resurrected Ministry of Equality.

The government “has to work to reduce inequalities and achieve great equality, which affects men and women,” Calvo said on Friday in a brief ceremony to take over the government’s no. 2 position from Soraya Saenz de Santamaria. </s> Spain's Socialists cleared the way on Sunday for the conservative People's Party (PP) to be sworn in to government, ending a 10-month political deadlock that has paralyzed institutions and threatened to derail an economic recovery.

Senior members of the center-left party voted 139 in favor, versus 96 against, of abstaining in a new confidence vote due this coming week which would grant conservative acting Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy a second term in office. </s> The lower chamber of Spain's Parliament has suspended four Catalan separatist politicians from their recently gained positions as national lawmakers because they are currently in jail during an ongoing trial for rebellion and other charges.

Speaker Meritxell Batet says that the governing body of the Congress of Deputies ruled on Friday to suspend the former Vice President of the Catalonia region, Oriol Junqueras, and three more pro-independence leaders in line with the country's criminal code.

The four politicians, and a fifth who won a seat in the Senate, were elected last month. Spain's Supreme Court granted them permission earlier this week to attend the opening parliamentary sessions of the new legislative term, escorted by police.

Junqueras is also a candidate for the European Parliament in elections that take place on Sunday in Spain.
The Spanish government blocks the appointment of the new councilors.