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> 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> 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> 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.

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. </s> STRASBOURG — 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.

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> 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> 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> 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.
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.