The ruling by the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) announced this Thursday, which recognized that Carles Puigdemont was right to doubt the impartiality of the rapporteur who defended lifting his immunity, does not modify his immediate judicial horizon. Since the former president is no longer an MEP, the annulment of the decisions regarding the request filed by Supreme Court magistrate Pablo Llarena mainly serves as a personal satisfaction.
Puigdemont's situation does not change even if he were to return to Spain, as the national arrest warrant remains in force. The Constitutional Court (TC) refused to lift this precautionary measure before resolving the appeal filed against the Supreme Court's refusal to apply amnesty to the crime of misuse of public funds, arguing that withdrawing the warrant would empty the challenge of content.
The Constitutional Court wants to wait for the CJEU to rule on the amnesty to prevent the Supreme Court from appealing to Europe if the appeals are ultimately granted.
The key point now lies in the preliminary question regarding the amnesty that the CJEU must resolve. The European court must determine whether pardoning the diversion of public funds for an illegal referendum (misuse of funds) violates the interests of the European Union. This ruling is expected to be made public around April.
Once the CJEU rules, the final resolution will be in the hands of the Constitutional Court. If the TC, in line with its previous endorsement of the law, considers that the amnesty must be applied to misuse of funds, the arrest warrant would be lifted for Puigdemont, Toni Comín, and Lluís Puig, and the disqualification penalty would be extinguished for those convicted of the 1-O, such as Oriol Junqueras and Jordi Turull. The Court of Accounts will also act in coherence with the CJEU's response.
