Catalan President to go to Strasbourg on July 2 for EU Parliament opening

President Quim Torra will be in Strasbourg on July 2 for the inaugural session of the European Parliament, government spokeswoman Meritxell Budó said on Tuesday. However, Budó did not clarify whether Torra would attend the session or whether he would be there to join the protest outside the chamber organized by the Council for the Republic.

The Spanish authorities have banned three former government officials charged over the 2017 independence bid from taking up the seats they won in the EU election on May 26. Foreign minister Alfred Bosch added that he would accompany Torra, insisting that exiled  president Carles Puigdemont, former minister Toni Comín and jailed vice president Oriol Junqueras have “all the right in the world” to take up their seats.

Pointing out that some two million people voted to elect Puigdemont, Comín and Junqueras as MEPs, Bosch said the former ministers “had to be there to represent them.” While in Strasbourg, Torra will attend “a number of different events,” according to Budó, with other members of the government also likely to join him on the trip.