Puigdemont and Comín pick up their MEP credentials

Exiled Catalan president Carles Puigdemont and minister Toni Comín picked up their MEP credentials in Brussels on Friday shortly before noon, after its head David Sassoli lifted the ban to get in the chamber. Today they got a provisional accreditation and in January they will receive the definitive one.

This was possible after the European Court of Justice (ECJ) annulled the decision by the EU’s General Court preventing Puigdemont and Comín from taking up their seats as MEPs in the European Parliament’s opening session in July. Friday’s ruling sides with the Catalan politicians, who appealed the decision taken by the General Court judges in July, and says that at the time the court “made a mistake.” The EU’s top court referred the matter back to the General Court to be “reexamined.”

This comes a day after the ECJ confirmed the immunity of Oriol Junqueras, who like Puigdemont and Comín, was elected a Member of the European Parliament in the May election, but who was in preventive detention in Spain and not allowed to take up his seat.

This means the judges think Junqueras should have been able to become an MEP on winning his seat, opening the door for Puigdemont and Comín – not serving prison sentences and not barred from office, as they went into exile – to take up their seats.