Oath in Madrid

Toni Comín, a former Catalan health councillor who had lived in Belgium since 2017, went to the Junta Electoral Central (JEC) on Thursday, 22 October. The board sits in the Congress of Deputies in Madrid. There he swore the Spanish Constitution, which the law requires before a European Parliament member can take up a seat, and collected his credential as Junts' MEP. He said he did so out of legal obligation, loyalty to the people of Catalonia and the mandate of 1 October 2017, the date of the illegal independence referendum. He was accompanied by his lawyer Gonzalo Boye and by Junts deputy Josep Pagès.

Court ruling opens the way

Comín won Junts' only seat in the June 2024 European elections but never completed the required steps, because an arrest warrant would have led to his detention on arriving in Spain. The seat has stayed empty since, although he served as an MEP during the 2019 to 2024 term. In the days before 22 October, Supreme Court judge Pablo Llarena confirmed that the amnesty law applies to the embezzlement charge, following a recent Constitutional Court ruling. Llarena also lifted the arrest warrants against Comín and Carles Puigdemont. Lluís Puig returned on Wednesday, 21 October, becoming the first of three leaders who had stayed outside Spain to come back.

Border crossing and the Madrid stop

Comín drove across the French border on Wednesday, 21 October, his first time in Spain in nine years. On Thursday morning he went to a police station inside Congress to renew his Spanish identity card, which had expired. The JEC had summoned him for 12:00 in the Sert room, and he spoke to reporters afterwards without taking questions. He spent the night outside Madrid at a friend's house. He still treats the capital as foreign territory, on a par with Rome, Paris or Amsterdam, and he was accompanied to Congress by his sister.

Exile and the planned return

Comín said that coming to Madrid does not end his exile, which he will consider over once he is back in Catalonia on Sunday. Reports differ on the date, with most giving Sunday, 25 October, and El Mundo giving 24 October. He plans to cross the border on foot, and accounts of the route differ: El País describes a path by the sea between France and the Girona area, while LaVanguardia describes a mountain pass whose route he would not disclose. After the crossing he intends to visit his mother and other relatives, and Junts' executive is due to receive him at party headquarters on Monday. Speaking to Rac1 after crossing the border, he said the moment gave him a physical sense of having won, and he described the summons to Madrid as a tantrum by a bad loser. He also said the State had used criminal, political and espionage resources against the independence movement for nine years.

Background and pending matters

Comín was born in Barcelona in 1971, the son of the anti-Francoist communist Alfonso Comín. His political path has crossed several parties, from the Socialists, for whom he sat in the Parliament of Catalonia, to ERC and then Junts. The European Parliament has an internal process open after a former aide filed a sexual harassment complaint against him, which Comín has described as entirely false.

Puigdemont and the election backdrop

Carles Puigdemont is now the only one of the leaders who stayed in Belgium after 2017 who has not returned. Puigdemont can come back without arrest risk since the warrant was lifted, but his circle says he will not return before the 29 November election, because he wants his legal route fully cleared first. The Cortes are dissolved and the pre-campaign for the 29 November election is under way. Comín's return on foot on Sunday is the next scheduled step.