Spain had no legal right to block a Catalan candidate from taking his seat as a member of the European Parliament by setting additional bureaucratic requirements, a senior lawyer at the Court of Justice of the European Union said Tuesday.

The advocate general's opinion also states that the candidate, Oriol Junqueras — former vice president of Catalonia and a leading advocate of independence for the Spanish region — should have enjoyed parliamentary immunity as an MEP from the moment the new Parliament formally convened in early July.

Advocate general Maciej Szpunar's opinion is a prelude to a full ruling in the case by the CJEU. But it and the overall case of Junqueras also have major legal implications for two other victorious Catalan candidates who have been blocked from taking up their mandates, Carles Puigdemont and Toni Comín.

Puigdemont, the former leader of the Catalan regional government, and Comín, a former regional minister, have been living in exile in Belgium. Spain has issued warrants seeking their arrest and extradition for their role in a referendum on Catalan independence in 2017 that was ruled illegal by the country's Constitutional Court. Junqueras, along with 11 other Catalan separatists, were convicted of sedition, disobedience and misuse of public funds. He was jailed in October for 13 years.

The cases of the three Catalans are also of major significance to the EU, because of the potential impact on the functioning of the Parliament, which is now highly divided and faces the prospect of votes being decided on extremely close margins. Spain has blocked the three from taking their seats, saying they failed to meet a requirement of swearing an oath to respect the Spanish Constitution.

Això demostra una altra gravíssima injustícia de què és víctima @junqueras. Li han vulnerat els seus drets i els dels seus electors. L'Oriol hauria d'estar assegut al @Europarl_EN, com en @toni_comin i jo mateix, perquè així ho van votar més de 2 milions persones #SpainSitAndTalk https://t.co/RFuFYFua0D — Carles Puigdemont (@KRLS) November 12, 2019



In the case of Junqueras, the Spanish Supreme Court refused on June 14 to allow him to leave prison to take the oath, which is required under Spanish national law. The other two candidates, facing certain arrest, have declined to return to Spain to take the oath. Spanish authorities have refused to accept evidence that the oath was sworn elsewhere.

The opinion issued Tuesday included a clear rebuke of the Spanish government regarding steps that appeared to prevent a candidate who emerged victorious in the European Parliament election from taking his seat. In the opinion, the advocate general found that "the Parliamentary mandate ... may not be conditional on the completion of any subsequent formality." This includes taking an oath of allegiance to the Spanish constitution — something Madrid has required the three to do — which the advocate general said "is not a step in the process for election to the European Parliament," which depends only on "the official declaration of the results."

The case also deals with the complicated question of immunity from prosecution that is enjoyed by elected members of the European Parliament. In the case of Junqueras, this already complex question ends up being further complicated because he was the subject of a criminal prosecution in Spain that began even before he became a candidate in the European Parliament election.

The advocate general, in his opinion, noted that there were limits to the jurisdiction of the European court because immunity is granted to MEPs in accordance with national law. But the opinion identifies legal gaps that allowed for Junqueras to be convicted and sentenced in Spain without the European Parliament being asked to decide if it was appropriate to lift immunity.

The advocate general urged that the Luxembourg court "should declare" that once an elected MEP is eligible for immunity under national law, "it falls to the Parliament to decide whether it is appropriate to waive or defend the immunity of one of its Members."

Supporters of the three Catalan candidates hailed the opinion on Tuesday as a significant victory that they said should serve as a basis for further court rulings that would allow the three to take their seats as MEPs.

"This shows another serious injustice that @junqueras is suffering. They have violated his rights and those of his voters. Oriol should be sitting in the European Parliament, as should @toni_comin and myself," Puigdemont tweeted in response to the ruling.

But the full consequences of the opinion were far from clear. The advocate general also noted Junqueras' conviction in the Spanish courts, which resulted in a total loss of civic rights while in prison, including the ability to serve in public office. As a result, the advocate general said the European court may have no basis to rule on the case, because Junqueras was therefore barred as a result of his conviction from serving as an MEP.

While Junqueras is imprisoned, Spain's Supreme Court has suspended the full imposition of the sentence against him while awaiting guidance from the CJEU.

A spokeswoman for the government of Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez did not immediately respond to a request for comment, nor did a spokeswoman for the Spanish permanent representation in Brussels.

The court's official ruling in the case is expected within several weeks.

Guy Hedgecoe contributed reporting.