Junts joins the European Democratic Party, ending seven years of political isolation in Brussels

Junts per Catalunya announced on Monday its formal integration into the European Democratic Party (PDE), a centrist and federalist European political family chaired by former French prime minister François Bayrou. The move ends nearly eight years of institutional isolation in Brussels, after the party's predecessor, the PDeCAT, was expelled from the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe (ALDE) in October 2018 in the aftermath of Catalonia's 2017 independence referendum.

A new home in Renew Europe

The PDE sits within the Renew Europe group in the European Parliament, the third-largest bloc in the chamber. The party currently counts between 10 and 12 MEPs, depending on the source, and already includes several Spanish nationalist and regionalist forces: the Basque Nationalist Party (PNV), the Canarian Coalition, and Commitment to Galicia. PNV's Aitor Esteban Bravo and the Canarian Coalition's Fernando Clavijo both hold vice-presidencies within the PDE.

Junts itself holds a single seat in the European Parliament, won in the June 2024 elections by former Catalan health minister Toni Comín. Comín, however, has been unable to take up his seat because he has refused to swear allegiance to the Spanish Constitution before the Central Electoral Board. PDE sources quoted by EFE stressed that joining the party and joining the Renew Europe parliamentary group are "two separate processes, although related." PDE spokesperson Alessio De Giorgi said that if and when Comín's election is validated, he "would have to go through Renew Europe's own admission procedure" before becoming a member of the group.

The Comín complication

Comín's situation is further clouded by an internal Junts investigation into sexual harassment allegations, which the party reactivated in July after a period of protection, according to the newspaper Ara. Comín has always denied the allegations. The European Parliament's own inquiry is also stalled, pending a Spanish Supreme Court decision on whether the amnesty law applies to Comín. The PDE's welcome statement made no mention of Comín.

Puigdemont's vision

Carles Puigdemont celebrated the move on social media, writing that he was "very happy to have been welcomed into the Democrats and to be able to contribute from this great political family to strengthening the European project." He invoked Catalonia's historical gaze toward Europe during the Franco dictatorship, saying that "when all seemed lost in the long night of Francoism, Catalonia looked north to find the freedom that Europe had won by defeating Nazism."

Our future is in a Europe that recognises itself in the diversity of its peoples and nations, languages and cultures. We will work shoulder to shoulder with our colleagues in the Democrats.

Junts secretary-general Jordi Turull described the move as "a great step forward in our international strategy" and expressed hope it would be "the start of a long road together to defend the full sovereignty of Catalonia within a federal Europe."

The amnesty ruling backdrop

The integration comes weeks after the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) ruled on 16 July that Spain's amnesty law must be applied in accordance with rule-of-law principles. The PDE has publicly backed that ruling, stating that the amnesty "should be implemented in accordance with the principles of the rule of law and the obligations deriving from the European legal order." The party has also expressed solidarity with Catalan victims of Pegasus spyware surveillance and rejected what it called "manoeuvres by the Court of Auditors to delay the application of the amnesty."

What the PDE gains

For the PDE, Junts represents what the party called "a central idea of the European project": that strong nations and territories within the EU are not incompatible but allied. The PDE's leadership includes secretary-general Sandro Gozi, a former Italian undersecretary for European affairs who has served as an MEP since 2019, elected on a French Renaissance list. The party was founded in 2004 by Bayrou and a federalist faction that split from the European People's Party.