Thousands protested Tuesday morning at the European Parliament (EP) in Strasbourg, France, in support of Carles Puigdemont, Oriol Junqueras and Toni Comin, three pro-independence Catalan leaders who were elected as European Parliament members (MEPs) but cannot hold office.

"We expect Europe to react, to help us, to not forget about the Catalan people. This is an issue of democracy," Francesc Planas, a young protester said.

Exiled former President of the Catalonia government Carles Puigdemont, jailed former Vice President Oriol Junqueras and former lawmaker Toni Comin supported the independence referendum which was held in Catalonia on October 2017.

As a result, they and nine other leaders were accused of rebellion by the Spanish state, which is calling for up to 25 years in prison for the pro-independence politicians.

Nevertheless, Catalan pro-independence parties presented jailed or exiled leaders as election candidates to draw attention to their plight and create pressure for their release. As part of this strategy, Puigdemont, Junqueras and Comin were elected at MEPs on May 26.

In June, however, the Spanish authorities prevented the three Catalan leaders from taking oath as EU lawmakers, which is a requirement to receive credentials as MEPs.



The Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) rejected Monday a precautionary measure in favor of ​​​​​​​the elected Catalan MEPs. It argued that their situation must be resolved by "national authorities". They previously filed a legal appeal before Spanish courts.

During the EU Parliament's first meeting Tuesday, Sinn Fein MEP Matt Carthy took the floor in defense of the rights of the Catalan people and leaders.

"Three representatives of the Catalan people have been denied representation in this house. This house needs to stand up for democracy," Carthy said and added "if this house doesn't value the votes of the Catalan people then the credibility of this house itself will be undermined." </s> Thousands rallied on Tuesday near the European Parliament in Strasbourg to demand that three Catalan separatist lawmakers be allowed to take their seats after they were elected to the EU legislature in May

MADRID (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 02nd July, 2019) Thousands rallied on Tuesday near the European Parliament in Strasbourg to demand that three Catalan separatist lawmakers be allowed to take their seats after they were elected to the EU legislature in May

The gathering of the Council for the Republic, a separatist movement headed by the Spanish region's former leader Carles Puigdemont, drew some 10,000 people, according to El Pais newspaper.

Puigdemont and two fellow pro-independence politicians � Toni Comin and Oriol Junqueras � did not show up for the opening session on Tuesday fearing arrest.

Spanish media said the trio are in Germany.

They fled Spain where they are wanted on sedition and other charges for their role in Catalonia's 2017 bid for independence.

In a video address, Puigdemont promised to fight for his right to seat on the European Parliament and urged the new convocation to shift away from the predecessors' course toward "repressions and curbs on democracy."

Parliament speaker Antonio Tajani told the three politicians last week they would not be able to join the legislature for a new term because they were not on the list submitted by Spanish authorities, which will only confirm their right to represent the country if the three take oath in Madrid in person. </s> EU Catalan electorate organised demonstration at doorstep of the European Parliament in Strasbourg on July 2 – the first day of the sitting of a new legislature. They have been protesting against ban of three of their elected MEPs to access their offices. Oriol Junqueras, imprisoned in Spain, Charles Puigdemont and Antoni Comin, stay in exile in Belgium.

10,000 people attended a protest in Strasbourg against the blocking of Catalan leaders from taking up their European Parliament seats, organizers say. MEPs-elect Puigdemont & Comín are in exile in Belgium while Junqueras remains in jail.

Carles Puigdemont was expected among the demonstrators but his lawyer Gonzalo Boye convinced him to avoid travelling in France, fearing his arrest.

According to local police, around 10,000 demonstrators participated. They came by bus, cars and even two chartered flights.

Spanish MEPs from parties like the Ciudadanos insist that fugitive suspects do not have the right to sit in the European Parliament, representing electorate.

On Monday, the European Court of Justice agreed with this opinion.

🇪🇺 | Three Catalan MEPs-elect were unable to take up their seats in the #EuropeanParliament today 🎥 | Lawyer @jordinieva offers his legal analysis of the situation the jailed and exiled politicians find themselves in </s> Supporters of the Catalan separatist movement protested outside of the European Parliament in Strasbourg because pro-independence Members of European Parliament have been barred from taking their seats.

The demonstration came on Tuesday at the opening of the next term of parliament amidst other protests from British pro- and anti-Brexit parties.

Demonstrators held portraits of ousted Catalan regional president Carles Puigdemont and waved the Catalan pro-independence ‘Estelada’ flags and banners, in protest of the decision that the now-elected MEP Puigdemont and his colleague Antoni Comín were barred from taking their parliamentary seats.

Mr Puigdemont and Mr Comín are living in exile in Brussels, Belgium, as they face arrest should they step foot on Spanish soil for their part in the ‘illegal’ Catalan independence referendum in 2017. Another separatist leader and elected MEP, Oriol Junqueras, is in detention in Spain and on trial.

The BBC reports that Puigdemont and Comín are not allowed to take their seats in the Strasbourg parliament because they failed to attend a mandatory swearing-in ceremony in Madrid, Spain, to pledge their allegiance to the country’s constitution.

Puigdemont faced difficulty running as MEP, with the Spanish electoral commission initially banning him because he did not live in Spain, with a Madrid court later overruling the decision.

After the May election, the former regional president attempted to enter the European Parliament building, but was allegedly stopped, with an EU spokesman telling POLITICO that only MEPs who have been named on the national lists could be accredited for entry.

Gonzalo Boye, Puigdemont’s lawyer, has said that he will take the case to the European Court of Justice.

During the region’s attempt to secede from Spain two years ago, the European Commission backed then-Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy’s move to take back power of Catalonia from the regional assembly.

Police brutality against voters and protestors was widely reported at the time of the referendum, with the European Union coming under criticism for its failure to condemn state violence against the citizens of an EU member-nation. </s> STRASBOURG (Reuters) - The European Parliament opened for a new term on Tuesday with the highest number of women ever but short of three pro-independence Catalan members who were barred from joining as hundreds protested over their exclusion outside the building.

Further controversy arose when 29 members of Britain’s anti-EU Brexit Party turned their backs as the European Union anthem - Beethoven’s “Ode to Joy” - was played live at the opening ceremony - a gesture that other lawmakers denounced as disgraceful and pathetic.

The parliament convened for the first time as national EU leaders gathered in Brussels for a third consecutive day to hash out who will get the bloc’s top jobs under the new mandate. EU-wide elections in May returned a fragmented 751-member parliament, which was set to elect its president on Wednesday.

Catalan separatist leaders Carles Puigdemont, Toni Comin and Oriol Junqueras have not been able to take their seats in Strasbourg as the Spanish electoral authority has not recognized them as members.

Puigdemont and Comin have lived in self-imposed exile since warrants were issued for their arrest in Spain after a failed bid for secession for Catalonia in 2017.

Instead of traveling to Spain to pledge allegiance to the Spanish constitution in person, as is required to take seats in the Strasbourg assembly, both sent in written statements of allegiance, which were not accepted.

Junqueras, imprisoned in Spain, was not allowed to leave jail to take the pledge and, along with Puigdemont and Comin, was left off Spain’s list of members, which numbered 51 rather than 54.

Hundreds gathered outside the parliament in Strasbourg, many waving pro-independence Catalan flags, to protest against the exclusion of the three Catalan separatist leaders.

Protesters hold Catalan flags during a demonstration asking for the Parliament inclusion of the 3 Catalan elected MEP's Carles Puigdemont, Oriol Junqueras and Toni Comin in front of the European Parliament in Strasbourg, France, July 2, 2019. REUTERS/Vincent Kessler

BAN BEING CHALLENGED

The EU General Court on Monday dismissed an application by Puigdemont and Comin to take their seats at the start of the session while challenges to decisions by the Spanish authorities and the parliament to bar them are considered.

“Any future parliament president would certainly have to also look into this, because it’s also a matter of how do you defend the rights of those who have been elected into the European Parliament,” Ska Keller, co-leader of the Greens/European Free Alliance party, of which Junqueras is a member, told reporters.

The seats of the Catalan separatist leaders will remain empty until they either take their oaths or leave their places to other members of their list. Should they become members of the European Parliament, they would receive immunity.

The Brexit Party kicked off the term by gathering outside the parliament holding “BeLeave in Britain” signs and marching into the chamber en masse. They turned their backs when the EU anthem was played.

From the other end of Britain’s political spectrum, several lawmakers from the strongly pro-EU Liberal Democrats wore yellow T-shirts marked “Stop Brexit” and “Bollocks to Brexit”.

Britons voted narrowly in a 2016 referendum to leave the EU but the departure has been delayed by deadlock in the London parliament over the terms of Brexit.

There is one less political party represented in the new EU parliament as the European Freedom and Direct Democracy - largely made up of Italy’s 5-Star Movement and the United Kingdom Independence Party (UKIP), whose leader, Nigel Farage, now heads the Brexit Party - has disbanded.

Slideshow (3 Images)

Instead, the Brexit Party’s 29 members and the 5-Star’s 14 are among the 55 considered unaffiliated in the parliament.

To form a political group in the chamber, 25 members from at least a quarter of the EU’s nations have to sign on.

The new parliament also registered its highest number of women yet with 40% of the members, as the bloc faces pressure to improve the gender balance in its top jobs. </s> BARCELONA, Spain — The Latest on Catalan independence activists (all times local):

A lawyer representing former Catalan president Carles Puigdemont and five other Catalan politicians who have been charged in Spain for violent rebellion has appealed to the U.N.’s Human Rights Committee to help defend their democratic rights.

Nico Krisch denounced a “grave interference in the democratic order” linked to the charges against Puigdemont, who lives in exile in Belgium, as well as Oriol Junqueras, Raul Romeva, Josep Rull, Jordi Sanchez and Jordi Turull. The five are being held in pre-trial detention in Spain.

The Catalan politicians have been charged and suspended from office by Spain’s Supreme Court for their roles in organizing an independence referendum in Catalonia 14 months ago.

The effort announced Thursday seeks the Geneva-based committee’s intervention to help ensure their democratic right to exercise their parliamentary mandate.

A spokeswoman for four jailed Catalan separatist leaders says they are abandoning their hunger strike more than two weeks after starting it because they consider that their protest has achieved its goals.

Speaking on behalf of the politicians, who are awaiting trial for their part in last year’s attempt to secede from Spain, Pilar Calvo said Thursday the strike has drawn attention to the separatists’ plight and prompted Spain’s constitutional Court to review some of their appeals, which enables them to take their case to the European Court of Human Rights.

Pro-independence activist-turned-politician Jordi Sanchez and former Catalan cabinet member Jordi Turull began their hunger strike on Dec. 1. Ex-regional ministers Josep Rull and Joaquim Forn joined two days later.

The constitutional Court had said the appeals were following the normal judicial calendar. </s> MADRID: Spain’s Supreme Court on Tuesday ordered former Catalan president Carles Puigdemont and five other separatists be suspended as regional lawmakers after concluding a probe into their succession bid.

 In a statement, the court said Judge Pablo Llarena had ordered “the suspension of… Carles Puigdemont and the other five lawmakers accused of the offence of rebellion.”

 A total of 25 separatist leaders are under investigation for their involvement in a failed independence declaration on October 27, which prompted Spain’s then government to sack the regional executive and impose direct rule on Catalonia.

 This was only lifted last month when a new separatist executive took office in Catalonia after snap regional elections in December voted pro-independence parties back into power. Of the 25, 13 are accused of rebellion and risk up to 25 years in prison. Nine are in preventative custody in Spain while four others fled abroad and are wanted by Spanish courts.

 Puigdemont is awaiting possible extradition from Germany.

 While they could not take part in parliamentary sessions in Barcelona, the six lawmakers kept their posts after being elected in the December polls, delegating their votes to party colleagues. — AFP </s> STRASBOURG, July 2 (Reuters) - The European Parliament opened for a new term on Tuesday with the highest number of women ever but short of three pro-independence Catalan members who were barred from joining as hundreds protested over their exclusion outside the building.

Further controversy arose when 29 members of Britain's anti-EU Brexit Party turned their backs as the European Union anthem - Beethoven's "Ode to Joy" - was played live at the opening ceremony - a gesture that other lawmakers denounced as disgraceful and pathetic.

The parliament convened for the first time as national EU leaders gathered in Brussels for a third consecutive day to hash out who will get the bloc's top jobs under the new mandate. EU-wide elections in May returned a fragmented 751-member parliament, which was set to elect its president on Wednesday.

Catalan separatist leaders Carles Puigdemont, Toni Comin and Oriol Junqueras have not been able to take their seats in Strasbourg as the Spanish electoral authority has not recognised them as members.

Puigdemont and Comin have lived in self-imposed exile since warrants were issued for their arrest in Spain after a failed bid for secession for Catalonia in 2017.

Instead of travelling to Spain to pledge allegiance to the Spanish constitution in person, as is required to take seats in the Strasbourg assembly, both sent in written statements of allegiance, which were not accepted.

Junqueras, imprisoned in Spain, was not allowed to leave jail to take the pledge and, along with Puigdemont and Comin, was left off Spain's list of members, which numbered 51 rather than 54.

Hundreds gathered outside the parliament in Strasbourg, many waving pro-independence Catalan flags, to protest against the exclusion of the three Catalan separatist leaders.

The EU General Court on Monday dismissed an application by Puigdemont and Comin to take their seats at the start of the session while challenges to decisions by the Spanish authorities and the parliament to bar them are considered.

"Any future parliament president would certainly have to also look into this, because it's also a matter of how do you defend the rights of those who have been elected into the European Parliament," Ska Keller, co-leader of the Greens/European Free Alliance party, of which Junqueras is a member, told reporters.

The seats of the Catalan separatist leaders will remain empty until they either take their oaths or leave their places to other members of their list. Should they become members of the European Parliament, they would receive immunity.

The Brexit Party kicked off the term by gathering outside the parliament holding "BeLeave in Britain" signs and marching into the chamber en masse. They turned their backs when the EU anthem was played.

From the other end of Britain's political spectrum, several lawmakers from the strongly pro-EU Liberal Democrats wore yellow T-shirts marked "Stop Brexit" and "Bollocks to Brexit".

Britons voted narrowly in a 2016 referendum to leave the EU but the departure has been delayed by deadlock in the London parliament over the terms of Brexit.

There is one less political party represented in the new EU parliament as the European Freedom and Direct Democracy - largely made up of Italy's 5-Star Movement and the United Kingdom Independence Party (UKIP), whose leader, Nigel Farage, now heads the Brexit Party - has disbanded.

Instead, the Brexit Party's 29 members and the 5-Star's 14 are among the 55 considered unaffiliated in the parliament.

To form a political group in the chamber, 25 members from at least a quarter of the EU's nations have to sign on.

The new parliament also registered its highest number of women yet with 40% of the members, as the bloc faces pressure to improve the gender balance in its top jobs. (Reporting by Daphne Psaledakis Editing by Mark Heinrich) </s> Bernat Armangue, Pool, Reuters | Jailed Catalan separatists Jordi Sanchez and Oriol Junqueras attend the opening session of parliament in Madrid, Spain, on May 21, 2019

Five Catalan separatist leaders who won election to the Spanish parliament last month were temporarily released from jail on Tuesday to be sworn in as lawmakers.

But the five men, who are on trial for their role in an October 2017 Catalonian secession attempt, could see their mandates quickly suspended by the assembly because of their legal situation.

Oriol Junqueras, Jordi Sanchez, Jordi Turull and Josep Rull won seats in the Congress, the lower house of parliament, while Raul Romeva was elected to the Senate, the upper house.

They arrived at the two assemblies from a jail near Madrid for the swearing-in ceremony in police vehicles to applause from their supporters. The ceremony marked the first time the Spanish Parliament has convened since the country’s highly polarised legislative election on April 28.

Like other lawmakers, they will swore to respect the Spanish constitution – the same constitution they are accused of having violated with their push for independence.

Although the Spanish Supreme Court has allowed the five separatist leaders to attend the opening legislative sessions in Madrid, they are likely to be barred from future meetings by the chambers’ governing bodies, due to be elected later on Tuesday.

“They want to silence and marginalise us, and the ballot box has given our voice back,” Junqueras, a former Catalan vice president and the head of leftist Catalan separatist party ERC, told AFP in a written interview from jail.

He is the main protagonist in the trial that opened in February of 12 Catalan leaders accused of rebellion and other charges in connection with a banned independence referendum held on October 1, 2017. The vote was followed by a short-lived declaration of independence.

Junqueras is also standing in European Parliament elections on Sunday.

Since 2017, Catalan separatist parties have presented jailed or exiled leaders, such as former regional president Carles Puigdemont, as election candidates to draw attention to their plight and create pressure for their release.

The sight of the separatist leaders – who sparked Spain’s worst political crisis in decades with their bid to break Catalonia away from Spain – taking their seats in parliament could inflame passions on both sides of a divided country.

The first job for the presidency councils of both the lower and upper houses of parliament will be to decide whether the Catalan MPs on trial will be suspended from their duties.

The conservative Popular Party (PP) and centre-right Ciudadanos have said they will try to stop the five men from occupying their posts.

“We can’t deny that the situation and the scenario are exceptional but in any case judicial decisions will be respected,” said Meritxell Batet, outgoing minister for territorial policy who is the Socialists’ candidate for speaker of the lower house of parliament.

Acting Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez’s Socialists won the most seats in the April 28 general election, but the party is more than fifty seats short of a majority in the 350-seat lower house of parliament.

Boosted by its fierce opposition to Catalan separatism, far-right party Vox won 24 seats and will enter parliament. It’s a first not only for the party, but more generally for the Spanish far right, which has not been represented in the country’s legislature since dictator General Francisco Franco’s death in 1975.

To be sworn in again as prime minister, Sanchez is likely to rely on some parties abstaining from voting.

If the jailed Catalan lawmakers are not allowed to take part in Sanchez’s investiture vote, the threshold to be approved will be lower and he could be sworn in without relying on Catalan separatist parties abstaining. Sanchez has put off negotiations on governing alliances until after the European ballot on Sunday, which also coincides with municipal elections in Spain.

The government might not be formed until as late as July, FRANCE 24's Sarah Morris reported from Madrid.

Sanchez, who in June 2018 took over from Mariano Rajoy, a conservative, as prime minister, has bet on dialogue with Catalonia to ease tensions sparked by the separatist push.

Conservative parties have repeatedly attacked his overtures to the separatists, who still rule Catalonia, and have instead called for the wealthy northeastern region’s autonomy to be suspended.

Catalan separatists, who consider Junqueras and the other 11 leaders on trial in Madrid as “political prisoners”, are sending Sanchez mixed messages.

The ERC separatist party said it is open to dialogue, but insists on holding an independence referendum in Catalonia, which Sanchez steadfastly refuses.

Catalan separatist parties also blocked last week the nomination of the Socialists’ leader in Catalonia, Miquela Aceta, to be the speaker of the Senate.

In response Spanish Foreign Minister Josep Borrell, who is a Catalan, blasted the separatists’ for their “totalitarian attitude”.

Sanchez then nominated another Catalan to be speaker of the Senate, philosopher Manuel Cruz, as well as a Catalan to be speaker of the lower house, Bate.
Fugitive Catalan independence leaders Carles Puigdemont and Toni Comín, together with imprisoned Oriol Junqueras, are not allowed to take office as MEPs by the Supreme Court of Spain and Court of Justice of the European Union, while a pro-independence demonstration takes place in Strasbourg.