Although the European Parliament's Committee on Legal Affairs has approved the opinion calling for a waiver of the parliamentary immunity of Carles Puigdemont, Toni Comín and Clara Ponsatí, it was far from plain sailing for the Spanish juggernaut formed by the PSOE, the PP, Cs and Vox in the Brussels chamber. No one expected a different outcome, as in the European Parliament, the states and the ideological families carry enormous weight. However, two things should be noted: never in the history of the European Parliament has the percentage of members of the committee voting to accept such a request (15 out of 25 MEPs) been so low and, if we take account of the presence of five unionist Spanish members on the committee (from the PSOE, PP and Cs) who voted as one, it turns out that of the 20 that remain only half - ten MEPs - agreed to lift the immunity of the three pro-independence Catalan MEPs. That this event took place on February 23rd, on the fortieth anniversary of the attempted coup in Spain by the military figures Armada, Milans del Bosch and Tejero, is just the icing on the cake of a spineless Spain with serious problems of democratic solidity in its values, exalting the fugitive king amid the applause of its MPs from the regime of '78, while in the street freedom of expression is demanded, singers are imprisoned and Catalan independence is persecuted in a spiral of repression that never seems to cease.
With very few resources, Catalan independence has managed to introduce the message into the European Parliament that in Spain the three MEPs would not have a fair trial. The Spanish deep state had a lot at stake in this battle, and a reversal in the European chamber, made up of 27 states, was completely ruled out. But there has been a significant wake-up call that has only been muffled by the massive presence of Spanish members on the Committee - five (two from the PSOE, two from the PP and one from Cs) out of twenty-five - to prevent any untoward outcome. To give an idea: Spain has 59 MEPs out of the total of 705 in the European Parliament but if its representation was in the same proportion as on the committee, it would have 141 seats in the chamber. Its presence on the committee is even more scandalous if we take into account that of the 59 Spanish MEPs only 41 are in favor of lifting immunity.
The battle of the European Parliament was known to have been lost in advance, although after the vote a large question mark remains as to the percentage of supports which the Spanish court's request will win in March at the plenary session of the European chamber. Following that session, the three pro-independence MEPs will continue to take their seats. The first consequence will be the loss of their freedom of movement outside Belgium, as any state could, in theory, activate the extradition warrants. With that chapter closed, the key battle will arrive, which is none other than the judicial hearing on a hypothetical extradition to Spain. But here, unlike at the Parliament in Strasbourg, Puigdemont, Comín and Ponsatí have trumps to play following the ruling made by the Belgian judiciary regarding former Catalan minister Lluís Puig in January, in which his extradition was definitively refused.
There is no indication that the hearing for the three pro-independence MEPs will not take a judicial path similar to the Puig case in the Brussels Court of Appeal. If that follows, the question would be definitively closed and the only thing remaining would be for the European Parliament to restore the immunity that it had waived. Which would happen once the European judiciary had studied the corresponding appeals to be filed. In short: the noise of the Spanish state on the decision of the Committee on Legal Affairs will, more than likely, fade into the background before long. Even if it happened on a 23-F.