The European Parliament has voted to lift parliamentary immunity of Catalan MEPs Carles Puigdemont, Toni Comín and Clara Ponsatí - paving the way for Spain to take further legal action.
After the result of the vote on Tuesday (9 March), Spanish foreign Minister Arancha González Laya said the parliament's decision showed "Catalonia's problems are to be resolved in Spain - and not in Europe".
Former regional premier Puigdemont, however, slammed the vote as "a sad day for the Europe...
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Elena is EUobserver's editor-in-chief. She is from Spain and has studied journalism and new media in Spanish and Belgian universities. Previously she worked on European affairs at VoteWatch Europe and the Spanish news agency EFE.