The European Court of Justice has overturned the unlawful waiver of immunity of the three former Catalan MEPs Carles Puigdemont, Dr Toni Comín and Prof. Dr Clara Ponsatí. At Spain's request, the European Parliament had lifted the immunity of the three Catalan MEPs, who were being politically persecuted by Spain, in 2021. Initially, the European Court of Justice had ruled in a controversial decision that the lifting of the immunity of the persecuted politicians was lawful. The three politically persecuted Catalans successfully fought against this: It has now been determined in the final instance that the lifting of their immunity in 2021 was unlawful.

On 1 October 2017, following a legal referendum, the Catalan people exercised their collective human right to self-determination, which is guaranteed by mandatory United Nations law and the Spanish Constitution of 1978. In collusive cooperation between Spanish politicians and the judiciary, an unlawful legal persecution and suppression of the Catalan independence movement and its leading representatives then began. In clear violation of the Spanish Constitution, the Catalan government was declared deposed and the Catalan Parliament, which had been elected in free and democratic elections, was dissolved by Spain in 2017 without sufficient legal basis. Various United Nations bodies have already determined that the Spanish state's actions were unlawful.

The ruling, published on 5 February 2026, is expected to have major legal implications, even though President Puigdemont and Prof. Ponsatí are no longer members of the European Parliament. Although Dr Comín is a democratically elected Member of the European Parliament, he is being denied the right to exercise his mandate. The exclusion of even one elected MEP from parliamentary deliberations could have led to the nullity of all decisions and elections of the European Parliament for the duration of this exclusion.

https://curia.europa.eu/site/upload/docs/application/pdf/2026-02/cp260010en.pdf