MEPs voted on Thursday to lift the immunity of the two involved in Qatargate, following requests from Belgian authorities.
MEPs voted on Thursday to lift the immunity of Italian MEP Andrea Cozzolino and Belgian Marc Tarabella, following requests from Belgian authorities.
Approving the proposal voted in favor of the Legal Affairs Committee on Tuesday, the European Parliament decided today to lift the immunity of the two MEPs involved in the corruption and financing scandal by a show of hands.
The process that started in January will officially end with the final notification of the decision both to the MEPs involved and to the requesting authorities.
EP President Roberta Metsola announced the start of the procedure on January 16, having received requests from the competent authorities in Belgium as part of an investigation by the Belgian federal prosecutor’s office. As required by Parliament’s Rules of Procedure (rules 6 and 9), the requests were referred to the Legal Affairs Committee, which voted on its recommendations on Tuesday 31 January. In her reports on the cases of Andrea Cozzolino and Marc Tarabella, the rapporteur Manon Aubry (Left, France) recommended that the immunity of the two MEPs be lifted so that the investigation by the Belgian authorities could proceed.
The examination of each immunity case in the Committee on Legal Affairs involves an initial presentation by the rapporteur, an optional hearing with the MEP whose immunity is being discussed, and finally an exchange of views and a vote on a draft report drawn up by the rapporteur. After the committee’s vote, the draft report is added to the agenda of the next plenary session, during which MEPs take their decision by a simple majority.
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