The European Parliament has voted to strip the immunity of the former president of the Spanish region Catalonia plus two other separatist politicians.  

The decision to strip immunity from Carles Puigdemont and two of his associates, Toni Comin and Clara Ponsati, means the Spanish government could restart extradition proceedings against the trio.

All three are subject to European arrest warrants for sedition following their role in the 2017 Catalonia independence referendum, which the central government in Madrid said was illegal.

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Puigdemont, who was Catalonia's president until fleeing in 2017, said the ruling was bad news not just for him but for the entire European Union.

"It is a sad day for the European Parliament," he told reporters. "We have lost our immunity but the European Parliament has lost more than that – and as a result, European democracy, too. This is a clear case of political persecution." 

Since October 2017 Puigdemont has been in Belgium in an effort to avoid prosecution, officially becoming a Member of the European Parliament in 2019.  

The Spanish government praised the decision to lift his immunity. Foreign Minister Arancha Sanchez Layo said the assembly's ruling showed that Puigdemont and his aides couldn't shield behind their legislative seat to avoid appearing before the national justice system.

"An MEP cannot use his statute to protect himself from appearing before national courts for possible violations of national laws," she said. "A second message [is] of the solidity of the Spanish rule of law and respect for the work of the Spanish judicial system."

Trio set to appeal

It's thought the three will now look to appeal the ruling in the EU's higher courts in Luxembourg.

There is another aspect to all of this and that is the role of Belgium, where Puigdemont is currently residing.

Last month, the country officially rejected Spain's attempt to extradite another former Catalan minister, Lluis Puig, after Belgian judges raised concerns that Puig's presumption of innocence was at risk in Spain.

Clearly, these latest cases have a long way to go yet.