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POLITICS

European court restores immunity of Catalan MEPs

The European Court of Justice restored the parliamentary immunity of exiled former Catalan leader Carles Puigdemont and two of his allies Tuesday, in a victory over Spanish authorities.

European court restores immunity of Catalan MEPs
Catalonia's exiled former leader Carles Puigdemont (C), escorted by Catalan economist and member of the European Parliament, Clara Ponsati (L) and Spanish politician from Catalonia, member of the European Parliament for the pro-independence coalition Together for Yes, Toni Comin (R), leaves on October 4, 2021 the Sassari courthouse in Sardinia, Italy, after attending his extradition hearing. Photo: Gianni BIDDAU/AFP

Puigdemont and fellow MEPs Toni Comin and Clara Ponsati face jail in Spain for their roles in organising a banned Catalan independence referendum, and in March the European Parliament stripped them of their legal protection.

But on Tuesday, the vice president of the court issued an order to provisionally “suspend the execution” of the lifting of the immunity while judges prepare to study the case.

“Today we have another positive result,” Puigdemont tweeted, promising to face down Madrid from exile “no matter how uncertain things are and no matter how colossal the strength of the Spanish State. No surrender”.

Puigdemont led efforts by Catalonia’s separatist regional government to stage an independence referendum in October 2017 despite a ban by Madrid. The vote was marred by police violence.

Several weeks later, the Catalan administration issued a short-lived declaration of independence, triggering a political crisis that prompted Puigdemont and several others to flee.

Some Catalan figures who stayed behind were arrested and put on trial, with nine of them jailed for between nine and 13 years.

Although those jailed were pardoned earlier this year, Madrid still wants Puigdemont and the others to face justice over the secession bid. Puigdemont lives in Belgium.

Puigdemont enjoyed immunity for a time after being elected to the European Parliament in 2019, but that was lifted by the parliament in March in a decision upheld in July by the EU’s General Court.

The higher court, the ECJ, will now consider his case.

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POLITICS

Who is Begoña Gómez? Spanish PM’s partner thrust into spotlight

Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez's wife Begoña Gómez, in the spotlight after a court opened a graft inquiry into her business dealings, has played a key role in her husband's political ascension.

Who is Begoña Gómez? Spanish PM's partner thrust into spotlight

“We are a team, and as a team we row in the same direction,” Gómez, 49, said during a 2016 television interview.

The couple put that unity on display after a Madrid court said Wednesday that it had opened a preliminary investigation into Gómez for suspected influence peddling and graft.

The move came in response to a complaint from the anti-corruption group Manos Limpias (Clean Hands), which is close to the far right.

Sánchez swiftly announced that he was suspending his duties to assess whether he would remain in office.

READ ALSO: What happens and who takes over if Spain’s Prime Minister resigns?

“I am not naïve. I am aware that they are bringing charges against Begoña, not because she has done anything illegal, because they know full well that’s not true, but because she’s my wife,” he said in a four-page letter posted on X.

“We often forget that behind politicians there are people. And I’m not ashamed to say it, I’m a man who is deeply in love with his wife,” Sánchez added, saying his wife was the victim of constant “mudslinging”.

Fundraising

Born in 1975 in Bilbao in Spain’s northern Basque Country, Gómez is under investigation because of her ties to several private companies that received government funding or won public contracts.

Online news site El Confidencial said she had met twice with Javier Hidalgo, CEO of the Spanish tourism group Globalia which owns Air Europa, when the carrier was in talks with the government to secure a huge bailout after the plunge in air traffic due to the Covid-19 crisis.

At the time, Gómez was running IE Africa Center, a foundation linked to Madrid’s Instituto de Empresa (IE) business school, which signed a sponsorship agreement with Globalia in 2020. Gómez left the post in 2022.

With a degree in marketing from Madrid’s private university Esic and a master’s in management, Gómez has specialised over the years in fundraising, particularly for foundations and NGOs.

Her career has taken her to a number of positions, including at business consultancy Inmark Europa and at Madrid’s Complutense University.

Gómez, who frequently appears at the helm of Women’s Rights Day marches on March 8th, did not want to give up this career when her husband became prime minister in 2018.

Sánchez and Gómez with German Chancellor Angela Merkel (2ndR) and her husband Joachim Sauer visit the Doñana National Park in southern Spain in 2018. (Photo by LAURA LEON / POOL / AFP)

‘Independent woman’

She and Sánchez have been a couple since the early 2000s after they met at a mutual friend’s birthday party.

She has accompanied his political rise, appearing at key events such as election night, but without exposing herself too much in the media. They have two teenage daughters.

Spain is a parliamentary monarchy with a king who is head of state, and there is no rank or special protocol for the spouses of the head of government, which can let them play a discreet role if they choose.

“Thanks to her, I have more strength,” Sánchez, a self-declared feminist, once said during a TV interview.

He has also often complained that Gómez is the victim of a steady stream of “false information”.

Like Brigitte Macron of France and former US first lady Michelle Obama, Gómez has been the target of fake news on social media suggesting she is actually a man.

READ MORE: Wife of Spain’s PM sues TV host for suggesting she is transsexual

Other online stories falsely claim she was fired from her job at Complutense University.

Spain’s Deputy Prime Minister Maria Jesus Montero defended Gómez on Thursday, calling her “a modern, professional, independent woman”.

Montero, who is also budget minister, also said the right would prefer that Gómez “stay at home” and that “women should stay out of public life”.

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