BETA


2008/2092(IMM) Request for waiver of the immunity of Frank Vanhecke

Progress: Procedure completed

RoleCommitteeRapporteurShadows
Lead JURI LEHNE Klaus-Heiner (icon: PPE-DE PPE-DE)
Lead committee dossier:
Legal Basis:
RoP 6

Events

2008/11/18
   EP - Results of vote in Parliament
2008/11/18
   EP - Decision by Parliament
Details

The European Parliament adopted, by 564 votes to 61 with 42 abstentions, a resolution on the request for waiver of the immunity of Frank VANHECKE (NI, BE). The report had been tabled for consideration in plenary by Klaus-Heiner LEHNE (EPP-ED, DE) on behalf of the Legal Affairs Committee.

To recall, at the request of the Dendermonde Public Prosecutor, the Belgian Minister of Justice made a request for the waiver of Frank Vanhecke in April 2008, in order to prosecute a criminal investigation into the Belgian Member, on suspicion of violating laws against racism and xenophobia by a publication in a Belgian newspaper.

Having considered the arguments both in favour and against waiving immunity, Parliament decided to waive the immunity of Frank VANHECKE.

Documents
2008/11/18
   EP - End of procedure in Parliament
2008/11/06
   EP - Committee report tabled for plenary, single reading
Documents
2008/11/06
   EP - Committee report tabled for plenary
Documents
2008/11/03
   EP - Vote in committee
Details

The Legal Affairs Committee adopted a report drafted by Klaus-Heiner LEHNE (EPP-ED, DE), and decided to waive the immunity of Frank VANHECKE (NI, BE).

To recall, a request for waiver of the immunity of Frank Vanhecke, was submitted, at the request the Dendermonde Public Prosecutor, by the Belgian Minister of Justice and announced in plenary sitting on 10 April 2008. The Dendermonde Public Prosecutor has opened a criminal investigation into Mr Frank Arthur Hyppolite Vanhecke, a Belgian Member of the European Parliament, on suspicion of violating laws agains racism and xenophobia. Itr is beleiveed that Mr Vanhecke was responsible as editor or publisher responsible for an artilce entitled 'What you were not allowed to read in the press' in the Vlaams Belang Newspaper, No 2, Sint-Niklaas edition, of April-May-June 2005. The article in question concerned the controversy which had arisen over the desecration of gravestones in Tereken churchyard between 29 March and 5 April 2005, in which connection Vlaams Belang highlighted the alleged fact that the culprits were young people of foreign origin.

In reality the culprits were apparently not of foreign origin but were identified as four minors of indigenous origin from two Flemish families.

In the course of the subsequent investigation it was not possible to ascertain who the author was of the article and its title. It seems to the Dendermonde Public Prosecutor that so far Mr Frank Vanhecke remains responsible under the criminal law for those sections, as the editor or publisher responsible.

In view of the above considerations, the Dendermonde Public Prosecutor proposes to order that Mr Frank Vanhecke be summoned to appear before the Magistrate's Court. However, in view of Mr Vanhecke's status, such a prosecution would only be possible after his parliamentary immunity had been waived.

The Legal Affairs Committee considered in the first place that this case is not covered by Article 9 of the Protocol in that an MEP's duties do not include acting as responsible editor for a national party newspaper. Consequently, the case falls to be considered under Article 10, namely in the light of Belgian law and the consolidated practice of the Committee on Legal Affairs.

After having considered the arguments for and against waiving immunity, the Committee on Legal Affairs recommends that the European Parliament waive Mr Frank Vanhecke's parliamentary immunity.

2008/06/16
   EP - LEHNE Klaus-Heiner (PPE-DE) appointed as rapporteur in JURI

Documents

Votes

Rapport Lehne A6-0421/2008 - résolution #

2008/11/18 Outcome: +: 564, -: 61, 0: 42
DE FR GB ES IT RO NL HU SE PT EL FI AT SK BE IE BG DK CZ LT SI EE CY MT LU LV PL
Total
90
61
66
39
63
26
26
21
17
17
20
14
17
14
20
12
18
14
22
13
5
6
5
4
4
4
49
icon: PPE-DE PPE-DE
247

Belgium PPE-DE

Abstain (1)

4

Denmark PPE-DE

1
2

Slovenia PPE-DE

2

Estonia PPE-DE

Abstain (1)

1

Cyprus PPE-DE

2

Malta PPE-DE

2

Luxembourg PPE-DE

2

Latvia PPE-DE

2
icon: PSE PSE
178

Ireland PSE

1

Czechia PSE

2

Lithuania PSE

2

Slovenia PSE

For (1)

1

Estonia PSE

3

Luxembourg PSE

For (1)

1
icon: ALDE ALDE
86

Hungary ALDE

1

Sweden ALDE

2

Austria ALDE

1

Ireland ALDE

For (1)

1

Slovenia ALDE

2

Estonia ALDE

2

Cyprus ALDE

Abstain (1)

1
icon: Verts/ALE Verts/ALE
40

United Kingdom Verts/ALE

5

Spain Verts/ALE

2

Italy Verts/ALE

2

Romania Verts/ALE

Abstain (1)

1

Sweden Verts/ALE

For (1)

1

Finland Verts/ALE

For (1)

1

Austria Verts/ALE

Against (1)

2

Belgium Verts/ALE

2

Denmark Verts/ALE

For (1)

1

Luxembourg Verts/ALE

For (1)

1

Latvia Verts/ALE

1
icon: GUE/NGL GUE/NGL
33

France GUE/NGL

2

United Kingdom GUE/NGL

1

Netherlands GUE/NGL

For (1)

1

Sweden GUE/NGL

2

Portugal GUE/NGL

2

Greece GUE/NGL

1

Finland GUE/NGL

For (1)

1

Ireland GUE/NGL

1

Denmark GUE/NGL

1

Cyprus GUE/NGL

2
icon: IND/DEM IND/DEM
19

France IND/DEM

2

Netherlands IND/DEM

2

Sweden IND/DEM

2

Greece IND/DEM

Abstain (1)

1

Denmark IND/DEM

Abstain (1)

1

Czechia IND/DEM

Abstain (1)

1

Poland IND/DEM

3
icon: NI NI
27

United Kingdom NI

6

Italy NI

For (1)

Against (1)

2

Austria NI

Against (1)

2

Belgium NI

3

Bulgaria NI

3

Czechia NI

Against (1)

1

Poland NI

Against (1)

2
icon: UEN UEN
37

Denmark UEN

Against (1)

1

Lithuania UEN

Against (1)

Abstain (1)

2

Latvia UEN

Against (1)

1

History

(these mark the time of scraping, not the official date of the change)

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name: LEHNE Klaus-Heiner date: 2008-06-16T00:00:00 group: European People's Party (Christian Democrats) and European Democrats abbr: PPE-DE
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rapporteur
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Old
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date
2008-11-06T00:00:00
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type
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2008-11-18T00:00:00
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activities
  • date: 2008-11-03T00:00:00 body: EP committees: body: EP responsible: True committee: JURI date: 2008-06-16T00:00:00 committee_full: Legal Affairs rapporteur: group: PPE-DE name: LEHNE Klaus-Heiner type: Vote in committee, 1st reading/single reading
  • date: 2008-11-06T00:00:00 docs: url: http://www.europarl.europa.eu/sides/getDoc.do?type=REPORT&mode=XML&reference=A6-2008-421&language=EN type: Committee report tabled for plenary, single reading title: A6-0421/2008 body: EP type: Committee report tabled for plenary, single reading
  • date: 2008-11-18T00:00:00 docs: url: http://www.europarl.europa.eu/oeil/popups/sda.do?id=16310&l=en type: Results of vote in Parliament title: Results of vote in Parliament url: http://www.europarl.europa.eu/sides/getDoc.do?type=TA&language=EN&reference=P6-TA-2008-537 type: Decision by Parliament, 1st reading/single reading title: T6-0537/2008 body: EP type: Results of vote in Parliament
docs
  • date: 2008-11-06T00:00:00 docs: url: http://www.europarl.europa.eu/sides/getDoc.do?type=REPORT&mode=XML&reference=A6-2008-421&language=EN title: A6-0421/2008 type: Committee report tabled for plenary, single reading body: EP
events
  • date: 2008-11-03T00:00:00 type: Vote in committee, 1st reading/single reading body: EP summary: The Legal Affairs Committee adopted a report drafted by Klaus-Heiner LEHNE (EPP-ED, DE), and decided to waive the immunity of Frank VANHECKE (NI, BE). To recall, a request for waiver of the immunity of Frank Vanhecke, was submitted, at the request the Dendermonde Public Prosecutor, by the Belgian Minister of Justice and announced in plenary sitting on 10 April 2008. The Dendermonde Public Prosecutor has opened a criminal investigation into Mr Frank Arthur Hyppolite Vanhecke, a Belgian Member of the European Parliament, on suspicion of violating laws agains racism and xenophobia. Itr is beleiveed that Mr Vanhecke was responsible as editor or publisher responsible for an artilce entitled 'What you were not allowed to read in the press' in the Vlaams Belang Newspaper, No 2, Sint-Niklaas edition, of April-May-June 2005. The article in question concerned the controversy which had arisen over the desecration of gravestones in Tereken churchyard between 29 March and 5 April 2005, in which connection Vlaams Belang highlighted the alleged fact that the culprits were young people of foreign origin. In reality the culprits were apparently not of foreign origin but were identified as four minors of indigenous origin from two Flemish families. In the course of the subsequent investigation it was not possible to ascertain who the author was of the article and its title. It seems to the Dendermonde Public Prosecutor that so far Mr Frank Vanhecke remains responsible under the criminal law for those sections, as the editor or publisher responsible. In view of the above considerations, the Dendermonde Public Prosecutor proposes to order that Mr Frank Vanhecke be summoned to appear before the Magistrate's Court. However, in view of Mr Vanhecke's status, such a prosecution would only be possible after his parliamentary immunity had been waived. The Legal Affairs Committee considered in the first place that this case is not covered by Article 9 of the Protocol in that an MEP's duties do not include acting as responsible editor for a national party newspaper. Consequently, the case falls to be considered under Article 10, namely in the light of Belgian law and the consolidated practice of the Committee on Legal Affairs. After having considered the arguments for and against waiving immunity, the Committee on Legal Affairs recommends that the European Parliament waive Mr Frank Vanhecke's parliamentary immunity.
  • date: 2008-11-06T00:00:00 type: Committee report tabled for plenary, single reading body: EP docs: url: http://www.europarl.europa.eu/sides/getDoc.do?type=REPORT&mode=XML&reference=A6-2008-421&language=EN title: A6-0421/2008
  • date: 2008-11-18T00:00:00 type: Results of vote in Parliament body: EP docs: url: https://oeil.secure.europarl.europa.eu/oeil/popups/sda.do?id=16310&l=en title: Results of vote in Parliament
  • date: 2008-11-18T00:00:00 type: Decision by Parliament, 1st reading/single reading body: EP docs: url: http://www.europarl.europa.eu/sides/getDoc.do?type=TA&language=EN&reference=P6-TA-2008-537 title: T6-0537/2008 summary: The European Parliament adopted, by 564 votes to 61 with 42 abstentions, a resolution on the request for waiver of the immunity of Frank VANHECKE (NI, BE). The report had been tabled for consideration in plenary by Klaus-Heiner LEHNE (EPP-ED, DE) on behalf of the Legal Affairs Committee. To recall, at the request of the Dendermonde Public Prosecutor, the Belgian Minister of Justice made a request for the waiver of Frank Vanhecke in April 2008, in order to prosecute a criminal investigation into the Belgian Member, on suspicion of violating laws against racism and xenophobia by a publication in a Belgian newspaper. Having considered the arguments both in favour and against waiving immunity, Parliament decided to waive the immunity of Frank VANHECKE.
  • date: 2008-11-18T00:00:00 type: End of procedure in Parliament body: EP
links
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    • JURI/6/61777
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    • date: 2008-11-18T00:00:00 docs: url: http://www.europarl.europa.eu/oeil/popups/sda.do?id=16310&l=en type: Results of vote in Parliament title: Results of vote in Parliament url: http://www.europarl.europa.eu/sides/getDoc.do?type=TA&language=EN&reference=P6-TA-2008-537 type: Decision by Parliament, 1st reading/single reading title: T6-0537/2008 body: EP type: Results of vote in Parliament
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