Investiture, yes and no

Yes to the Investiture debate, and to Carles Puigdemont as a candidate, but in person only. The Constitutional Court (TC) put this condition on the plenary session scheduled for Tuesday in Parliament to elect the President of the Generalitat: that Puigdemont return to Catalonia, where incidentally the Spanish police are waiting to arrest him to take him before a judge. However, the unanimous vote of inadmissibility to Mariano Rajoy’s appeal to suspend the session, is a huge blow as it refutes the PP’s strategy against independence and recognises in their entirety the rights of Puigdemont as an MP.

The decision came as a surprise as previously the TC had accepted all cautionary appeals from the central government related to Catalonia’s independence, instead taking into account the criteria held by the Council of State late in the week which found no legal basis to suspend the session. The TC’s own legal services had also issued a report along similar lines.

The deliberation of the tribunal began with the conclusions of Catalan judge Juan Antonio Xiol which opposed the admissibility of the appeal, obviously provoking reluctance among more conservative judges. Andrés Oller, close to the PP, withdrew at midday due to illness but this did not alter the balance in favour of the conservatives. However, the final ruling was unanimous.

The TC has effectively passed the matter on to judge Pablo Llarena to decide if Puigdemont may attend the session, and to Puigdemont to decide on his return, something he has never ruled out, while making it clear to Speaker Roger Torrent that the candidate may only be elected if he is present.