ECJ Advocate General's Opinion on Oriol Junqueras

Today, the Advocate General of the European Court of Justice has issued the opinion that our colleague Oriol Junqueras has the right to be a Member of the European Parliament, despite the Spanish Supreme Court not letting him take up his seat after he was elected in the last European elections in May. According to the Advocate General, an MEP's mandate is acquired solely from the electorate and cannot be conditional on the completion of any subsequent formality.

Ska Keller MEP, President of the Greens/EFA group in the European Parliament, comments:

"Even if this is not the final decision on the matter, this is good news as the Advocate General's opinion argues that the European Parliament is competent to defend Mr. Junqueras' immunity. We hope that this important decision will now be confirmed by the ECJ, we have always defended the right of our colleague to take up his seat."

Diana Riba MEP, Greens/EFA MEP, comments:

"Spain's decision to not allow Mr. Junqueras to take up his seat in the European Parliament not only violates his political rights, but also those of more than 1.2 million European citizens who voted for him and are not represented today in the European Parliament. Oriol Junqueras should have been freed to be able to exercise his political mandate as an MEP."