On a cold, dark Wednesday night, Toni Kamin feels at home walking through the corridors of the European Parliament in Brussels. People welcome him warmly, as if they were strangers. This is a strange situation for a member of Congress.
Except that Mr. Comyn is a member on paper. He has no office, no assistant, no tasks to perform, and of course no pay slip. Even the badge he uses to enter parliament is different from those of his colleagues.
Due to complex legal issues, the 54-year-old Spanish lawmaker cannot act as a member of the European Parliament, although he is an elected member of the European Parliament. He can enter the building with his previous parliamentary card and enjoy parliamentary privileges, but he cannot attend official meetings, draft bills in committees or speak in plenary sessions.
To understand why, we have to go back to October 2017.
Comín, the son of a prominent Catalan socialist politician, was Minister of Health in the Autonomous Authority of Catalonia, the regional government of Catalonia that was seeking separation from Spain at the time.
The autonomous government went so far as to push for a referendum on Catalonia’s independence, which the Spanish government considered illegal, but proceeded to ignore it. Election day was marred by police intervention. episodes of violence.
The Catalan government declared independence on October 27, 2017, and Spain immediately invoked emergency powers to restore order. The next day, five members of the Generalitat secretly left the country, including Comin and then-President of Catalonia Carles Puigdemont.
Their stories have been inextricably intertwined ever since.
The two politicians, wanted by the Spanish judiciary on charges of sedition, sedition and misuse of public funds, fled to Belgium, where they currently live. Spain has never succeeded in extraditing them, despite several attempts and a lengthy legal dispute.
Puigdemont and Comin also ran as candidates for the center-right party Together for Catalonia, which they co-founded, in the 2019 European elections, and both were elected to the European Parliament. However, it was not until 2020 that they were allowed to take their seats as parliaments following a ruling by the European Court of Justice.
Spain’s electoral authorities require those elected to the European Parliament to take the oath in person in Spain, making it impossible for Catalan fugitives to take office unless they return and are arrested. Although this hurdle was eventually removed by the European Court of Justice, it returned when Comyn was re-elected in 2024.
“The new judgment overturns the previous one and essentially claimed that I am a member of parliament, but parliament should respect Spain’s decision to allow it to exercise its mandate,” Comin told Euronews. “That’s the difference between being a legislator and doing a legislator’s job.”
This discrepancy means that the current number of members of parliament is 719 instead of 720. Catalan MPs cannot sit in the parliament without taking the Spanish oath, but they also cannot be replaced.
All he can do for now is meet with his colleagues.
“I come here about twice a month to maintain my network,” he said, noting that some Spanish lawmakers don’t want to talk to him at all, but others are willing to talk to him.
“I have good relationships with some MPs from the Green Party/EFA, the Left and the European Renewal Group.”
He says he spends the rest of his time working on politics and writing his memoirs at his home in the Belgian town of Louvain-la-Neuve.
“This is a 700-page book with all my history,” he said, joking that he was still looking for a suitable title. “It will be finished by Christmas, or a little after that, and will be published next year.”
conflict from abroad
During his eight years in self-imposed exile, Comin continued to pursue the cause of Catalan independence as Puigdemont’s right-hand man.
Together for Catalonia has remained in power at the regional level for years after failed attempts at independence and is currently in opposition in Catalonia’s parliament, although it has helped keep Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez in power by not voting against him in a no-confidence motion.
The socialist-leaning Sánchez government is pursuing a rapprochement with Catalonia’s pro-independence forces, with Sánchez accepting support for him in Spain’s parliament (or at least denying opposition) in exchange for Catalonia’s pro-independence forces. amnesty law We covered politicians involved in the events of October 2017.
But not everything is resolved. Spain’s Supreme Court has challenged the application of amnesty for crimes of misuse of public funds. Puigdemont, Comin and others have reapplied to the Constitutional Court before the Supreme Court, but the Spanish arrest warrant remains in effect until the legal battle is resolved.
“We cannot go there, so the political conference of our party is held in Belgium. Every month, high-ranking people come here from Barcelona and we meet in place of Mr. Puigdemont in Waterloo,” Comyn said.
Relations with the main leaders of Catalan separatism are both political and emotional. “Given what we have experienced together, I am confident that our friendship can survive anything. We are more than party comrades, we are brothers in exile.”
Together they have hosted a roller coaster of events and parties from overseas. detention, chaoticEfforts to establish a government in exile, and personal troubles.
Last January, Kamin accusedA case of sexual and psychological harassment by a parliamentary aide of another member of the same party, who filed a formal complaint with Congress about the alleged behavior. In a statement released at the time, he said the accusations were completely baseless and aimed at causing political damage. The case will remain on hold until Comyn is confirmed as a member of Congress.
hope on the horizon
While Comín and others’ long-term goal remains Catalonia’s independence from Spain, their short-term goal is to return to their Catalan homeland. In the years since 2016, no progress has been made on Goal 1. The 2017 enthusiasm for an independent republic has gradually waned, and the Generalitat is now led by Catalan socialists opposed to independence, with little or no support from separatists abroad.
However, a return to Spain could be on the horizon. A full amnesty for Catalan separatist leaders would give them the right to return to Catalonia without being arrested.
This could pave the way for Mr Puigdemont to seek back power in local elections, while allowing Mr Comin to take the oath of office in the European Parliament. He feels optimistic that this is the quickest way to become a qualified lawmaker rather than having an appeal pending in court.
“There is a 90% chance that we will accomplish this by the end of the mission,” he said.
He misses the real work of Congress: crafting policy and potentially fighting political battles, such as lifting vaccine patents, which he pursued in the previous Congress.
But more than that, he misses Catalonia, his partner and his daughter, who attends a middle school in Catalonia. He remembered the time when he was free to return to his hometown of Barcelona and heaved a sigh.
“The feelings of being in exile are similar to being a father, but in reverse. You can’t imagine how painful it is until you experience it yourself.”
