The new president of the European Parliament, David Sassoli, has said he's "prepared to review" his opinion as to whether Carles Puigdemont, Oriol Junqueras and Toni Comín can take their seats in the Parliament "if necessary". He said they "will comply with the law" if the Court of Justice of the European Union decides in favour of Junqueras and says that he automatically became an MEP with his election and the start of the new legislature.

The president said the chamber will be open to changing its current position when there is "a legal decision". As such, they won't act based on the non-binding opinion in Junqueras' favour written by one of the court's advocates general.

Sassoli explained that he hasn't yet received the letter from defence counsel representing Puigdemont and Comín in which they ask to be allowed to take their seats "on a provisional basis" whilst the court reaches its verdict. So far lawyers for the European Parliament have argued they cannot recognise the three as MEPs as their names didn't appear on the final list submitted by Spain after May's election.

On the other hand, advocate general Maciej Szpunar found that candidates become MEPs-elect on the proclamation of the results and full MEPs at the start of the new legislature, regardless of what other formalities they may or may not complete. The three Catalan pro-independence politicians weren't included on the final list of MEPs submitted by Spain for the new legislature because they hadn't sworn allegiance to the Spanish Constitution in the Congress in Madrid, but they were named in BOE, the official state gazette, in the proclamation of the results.

Awaiting the verdict

European Parliament sources say that when the court reaches its verdict they will consider whether they have the "obligation" to change their position. The chamber's legal services will analyse the ruling and recommend a course of action. They add that, so far, the legal services have merely followed current jurisprudence in the case of the pro-independence politicians.