A new passport - and not just any passport. Exiled Catalan president Carles Puigdemont is due to take his seat in the European Parliament for the first time on Monday, along with fellow Catalan politician Toni Comín. And as part of the accreditation process, both of them will be granted a new EU document which will allow them to travel widely, even to the United States and China, as former MEP Ramon Tremosa has stated today in a tweet.

Enjoying not only parliamentary immunity but also this new EU passport will mean that the two new Catalan MEPs will be less dependent on Spanish documentation. Thus, it is likely to put an end to speculation on the expiry date of their respective Spanish national ID cards, which they have depended on when crossing borders up till now.

Ramon Tremosa, an MEP until last year and currently professor of economics at the University of Barcelona, affirms that this European document is one of the most important aspects in allowing Puigdemont and Comín to have full liberty: "EU passport available to MEPs. Recognized almost worldwide, its quasi-diplomatic passport status allows MEPs to travel without the national documentation of EU Member States."

Passaport de la UE a disposició dels eurodiputats: reconegut gairebé a tot el món, el seu rang de passaport quasi-diplomàtic permet de viatjar als eurodiputats sense la documentació nacional dels estats membres de la UE. pic.twitter.com/YCT0w3f8Dv — Ramon Tremosa 🎗🌹 (@ramontremosa) January 10, 2020

Puigdemont will enjoy, as Tremosa said, near-universal freedom of movement, as well as rights as an MEP, which will allow him to further broaden his efforts at raising international awareness of the Catalan conflict around the world.