Two politicians who campaigned for Catalonian independence - and subsequently fled to Belgium - have been elected as MEPs, with a third waiting to be confirmed after Brexit, when UK seats are reallocated in the EU Parliament.

Another Catalonian candidate who is currently in jail has also been elected as an MEP, which is courting controversy in Spain.

The former Catalan president, Carles Puigdemont, has been seen in the corridors of the European Parliament this week, but not to collect his temporary accreditation as an elected member of the European Parliament.

It has been denied to him at the request of three Spanish political parties and among them the Popular Party.

Carlos Iturgaiz, an outgoing MEP with PPE who is against Puigdemont’s election said: "When there is a criminal, a fugitive who is searched by the Spanish justice, without any doubt this man does not have the right to hold any public office in any institution of the European Union where Spain is a member of this institution."

The EU Parliament President Antonio Tajani, suspend the accreditation of all Spanish MEPs for the moment. They can only access EU buildings as guests for now.

Watch Euronews' Jack Parrock's report from Brussels in the player above.