The President of the European Parliament, Roberta Metsola, informed the MEPs about the requests of the Belgian prosecutor’s office to revoke the parliamentary immunity of the Belgian Marc Tarabella and the Italian Andrea Cozzolino.
As stipulated by the procedural rules, the President of the European Parliament must first present the request for immunity waiver at the plenary session, after which it is taken over by the competent Committee for Legal Affairs (JURI).
That’s how it is today Metsola informed the plenary session that the Belgian prosecutor’s office had submitted a request to waive immunity Tarabella and Cozzolin, who come from the Socialist political group and Democrats (S&D).
She didn’t explain the reason, but they both did MEP mentioned in media reports on the corruption scandal regarding Qatari interference and Morocco in decisions of the European Parliament.
The Committee on Legal Affairs will now appoint a rapporteur and called a session intended for the presentation of cases, during which it can also hold hearings. This will be followed by the preparation of draft reports, which will be discussed and voted by members of the JURI committee.
Based on this, the Committee will recommend to the full Parliament whether to approve or reject the application. The recommendations of the committee will be forwarded to the plenary session, if they are approved, the speaker of the parliament will immediately inform the member of parliament concerned. and competent national authority.
Metsola is already at the start of the procedure at the beginning of the month of all services and asked the committees of the parliament to treat the matter as a matter of priority with the aim of making a final decision by February 13.
Strengthening transparency and integrity
She is the Speaker of the Parliament today in In Strasbourg, she presented the strengthening measures to her parliamentary colleagues transparencyintegrity and independence of the operation of this institution, which has found itself in corruption scandal.
She explained that last week they agreed on several measures with the leaders of the political groups. First, they will look at how they can provide more transparencystrengthened responsibility and improved verification of interest representatives.
More transparency they will also demand from representatives of third countries and their interests and from former members of parliament.
In addition, more will be available to the public and clearer information about the functioning of the parliament and financial statements of its members. They will also propose measures to strengthen the fight against corruption and foreign interference.
“The events of the past month have led to the need to restore the trust of the European citizens we represent. Citizens rightly demand accountability and integrity,” she said at the beginning of the plenary session.
“Our house is the embodiment of European parliamentary democracy. I need your help to strengthen the pillars on which it stands. We owe it ours citizens,” she emphasized in address to his colleagues in to the parliament.
As part of the investigation of one of the biggest scandals in in the history of the European Parliament, investigators conducted more than 20 investigations in December, some also in Italy and premises of the parliament in Brussels, seized 1.5 million euros and detained several people.
The scandal took the Greek woman from the ranks of the S&D Eva from the position of vice-president of the parliament Kailawhich is currently in detention. They will be about her successor MEPs voted in Wednesday. They are expected to support the candidate proposed by the S&D political group, Luxembourg’s Marco Angelo.
Source: Rtvslo
