Spain Obliges Puigdemont to Arrive in Madrid to Formally Become EU Parliament Member

MADRID (Sputnik) - The Junta Electoral Central of Spain (JEC) has obliged Carles Puigdemont, the ex-government head of Spain’s Catalonia region, and former Catalan government member Toni Comin, to arrive in Madrid on June 17 to undergo necessary formal procedures for obtaining the status of members of the European Parliament.

Puigdemont and Comin, who are currently residing in Belgium, were elected in the European Parliament on May 26 from the Lliures per Europa coalition.

JEC on Thursday announced that 54 Spanish politicians, who secured seats in the European Parliament, had to appear in Madrid on June 17 for receiving the required documents and swearing in on the constitution, as it is prescribed by the existing law.

Both Puigdemont and Comin are likely to face detention if they cross the country's border.

The European Parliament previously refused to grant Puigdemont and Comin temporary permits for entering the parliament building in Brussels and also withdrew temporary permits of other Spanish politicians until the official list from the JEC is received.

In October 2017, the Catalan government, then headed by Puigdemont, held an independence vote in defiance of the policies of the central authorities, which doomed the referendum illegal. At the vote, over 90 percent of the voters supported Catalonia’s secession from Spain, after which Madrid dissolved the regional parliament and introduced the direct rule over the region.

Puigdemont and several other members of his cabinet fled Spain, where they faced charges of rebellion, sedition and misuse of public funds to organize the ballot.