Puigdemont and Comín withdraw request to join the Greens/EFA group

Catalan exiled MEPs Carles Puigdemont and Toni Comín will not join the Greens/EFA Group in the European Parliament. According to a press release, they have sent a letter to the group withdrawing their membership request, “in order to avoid internal division of the group”.

EFA hosts MEPs from Catalan pro-independence ERC and is in favour of accepting Puigdemont and Comín, but among the Greens there are detractors and supporters.

“The last thing we want to do is join a group after a process that has been able to cause serious disagreements between some of its members and that our acceptance is an element of discord in a political space that we feel very close and to which we feel bonded”, the two MEPs emphasize.

The Greens-EFA Group had to discuss today whether Puigdemont and Comín coukld join the Group, as well as Clara Ponsatí who is to become new MEP after the Brexit. The conciliation committee set up to bring positions between the Greens and the European Free Alliance decided to move this issue to the first item on the agenda of the meeting with the whole group. The same sources asserted that there was no consensus in favor of their entry.

With 74 MEPs, the Greens/EFA is the fourth political force in the Parliament, but with the departure of the British MEPs this week they will lose a dozen members.