European Court rules against MEP Kaili on immunity lifting request
The Court of Justice of the European Union has dismissed “as inadmissible in its entirety” the challenge brought by European Parliament Member Eva Kaili against the request for lifting her parliamentary immunity.
“On the basis of an investigation concerning the management of parliamentary allowances, the European Chief Prosecutor, Laura Kövesi, made a request on 15 December 2022 to the President of the European Parliament, Roberta Metsola, to lift the parliamentary immunity of Eva Kaili, former Vice-President of the European Parliament,” the court order says. “Ms Metsola decided to announce that request in the Parliament’s plenary session and to refer it to the Committee of Legal Affairs,” it adds.
“The acts in question are not open to challenge,” the court opined Tuesday.
The court said that a request for lifting an MEPs immunity aims to facilitate an investigation and is not prejudicial. It also observed “that, until the final decision of the Parliament is taken, Ms Kaili continues to benefit from the protection of the privileges and immunities granted by EU law.”
“An appeal, limited to points of law only, may be brought before the Court of Justice against the decision of the General Court within two months and ten days of notification of the decision,” a court note said.
Kaili, a socialist, was arrested on December 9, 2022, over her alleged involvement in the Qatargate scandal, in which MEPs, lobyists and their families have been accused of being unduly influenced by the governments of Qatar, Morocco and Muritania, often through direct cash handouts. On May 14, she was released from prison with an electronic monitoring bracelet and returned to her home in Brussels.
