Although in the last two years we have seen all kinds of interpretations made of the Spanish Criminal Code, firstly to arrest, and then to charge the Catalan pro-independence leaders on trial in the Supreme Court, it turns out that we have not yet seen it all. It appears that the clarity of the decision of the European Court of Justice (ECJ) on the immunity of Puigdemont, Junqueras and Comín starts to blur once it crosses the Ebro, in a high-wire balancing act only explained by the heavy blow it has meant for the Supreme Court.
Because the question can be no other: which part of the ECJ's ruling does Spain not understand? No sooner did it arrive in Madrid, than the public prosecutors' office sprung into life and said it would not withdraw the European Arrest Warrants for Puigdemont and Comín; the prosecutors also slinked out of the ECJ's dictate regarding Oriol Junqueras; while the State Solicitors, in an apparent nod to the PSOE and ERC negotiations, appeared ready to make it possible for the incarcerated Catalan vice president to formally become an MEP. Something which, incidentally, it already gave the green light to last June, six months before the European court's ruling.
And while all that is happening, the Madrid media is talking about a "Spain on its knees" before the forces of Catalan independence at the same time as they propagate the message that "immunity is not impunity". What would happen if it was really admitted that all three of the Catalan MEPs enjoy parliamentary immunity in the exercise of their functions?
So many lies have been spread to justify the unjustifiable that there now seems to be no way to restrain a situation that has gone beyond any logic or control. The sooner Madrid understands the absolute respect that the European courts have for the law, the less shame and humiliation the Spanish courts will have to go through. It's that simple. Another thing is if Spanish justice has decided that European rulings are just not to its liking. That is what we have been seeing so far.