European Parliament denies pass to ex Catalan President and new MEP Carles Puidgemont

THE European Parliament has refused to give a provisional pass to the former president of Cataluña days after he was elected as an MEP.

Carles Puidgemont, of the pro-independence Junts per Cataluyna, arrived at the parliament in Brussels to collect his pass yesterday (Wednesday).

They were reportedly refused entry after three Spanish parties asked the European Parliament not to issue passes for MEPs until they had formally taken office in Spain.

Puigdemont said he and pro-independence figures would not allow themselves and their supports to be ignored.

“We won the elections in Cataluña but the ‘democratic’ general secretary of the European Parliament considers that our voters are less respectable than the rest,” he said.

An arrest warrant for sedition and rebellion remains active in Spain for Puigdemont over the 2017 independence push, meaning he would be detained if he returned. The former Catalan president fled Spain shortly after the warrant was issued in October last year.

Separately, a new report from a UN working group has said the ongoing detention of pro-independence politicians and other figures currently on trial over the 2017 independence push is ‘arbitrary’.

Spanish ambassador to Britain Carlos Bastarreche claimed the UN was spreading ‘disinformation’ and said the report ignored the fact the government could not interfere with courts who remanded the detainees.