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2018/2247(IMM) Request for the waiver of the immunity of Jean-Marie Le Pen

Progress: Procedure completed

RoleCommitteeRapporteurShadows
Lead JURI
Lead committee dossier:
Legal Basis:
RoP 6

Events

2019/03/12
   EP - Results of vote in Parliament
2019/03/12
   EP - Decision by Parliament
Details

The European Parliament decided to waive the immunity of Jean-Marie LE PEN (NI, FR).

To recall, the request for waiver of the immunity of Jean-Marie Le Pen was forwarded on 5 September 2018 by the Ministry of Justice of the French Republic on the basis of a request made by the Prosecutor-General at the Paris Court of Appeal, in connection with a case pending before the Examining Magistrates pertaining to alleged offences of breach of trust, concealment of breach of trust, fraud by an organised group, forgery and the use of forged documents, and concealed work by concealment of employees, in relation to the employment conditions of parliamentary assistants.

The Examining Magistrates at the Paris Regional Court have requested the waiver of the parliamentary immunity of Jean-Marie Le Pen in order to hear him in connection with alleged offences.

Parliament noted the following points:

- during a search conducted at the headquarters of the Front National in February 2016, a number of documents were seized in the office of the treasurer of the Front National, which bore witness to the party’s desire to make ‘savings’ through the European Parliament’s defrayal of the remuneration of employees of the party by virtue of their capacity as parliamentary assistants;

- the Front National’s establishment plan, published in February 2015, listed only 15 Members of the European Parliament (of a total of 23), 21 local parliamentary assistants and 5 accredited parliamentary assistants (of a total of 54 assistants). The investigations also revealed circumstances, particularly the accumulation of employment contracts of European parliamentary assistants, that made it seem unlikely that the parliamentary assistants concerned were genuinely performing duties connected with the European Parliament;

- the investigation revealed that in his capacity as Member of the European Parliament, Jean-Marie Le Pen employed a parliamentary assistant in 2011, but the parliamentary assistant in question told investigators that he had worked on the election campaign of another Member during the period concerned, and that Jean-Marie Le Pen arranged for the payment of parliamentary assistants’ salaries to three other people, although they had done virtually no work whatsoever in that capacity;

- the investigation also revealed that in his capacity as President of the Front National at the time of the alleged offences, Jean-Marie Le Pen established a system, brought to light by the European Parliament, of using EU funds to pay for some of the Front National’s employees through parliamentary contracts with people who, in reality, had worked for the party, thereby infringing the EU rules in force’.

Parliament found that there is no evidence of or any reason to suspect fumus persecutionis , i.e. a sufficiently serious and precise suspicion that the proceedings have been brought with the intention of causing the Member political damage.

Documents
2019/03/06
   EP - Committee report tabled for plenary
Details

The Committee on Legal Affairs adopted the report by Kostas CHRYSOGONOS (GUE/NGL, EL) on the request for waiver of the immunity of Jean-Marie LE PEN (NI, FR).

The Examining Magistrates at the Paris Regional Court have requested the waiver of the parliamentary immunity of Jean-Marie Le Pen in order to hear him in connection with alleged criminal offences relating to breach of trust, concealment of breach of trust, fraud by an organised group, forgery and the use of forged documents, and concealed work by concealment of employees, in relation to the employment conditions of assistants of Members of the European Parliament affiliated to the Front National.

The committee noted the following points:

- the Front National’s establishment plan, published in February 2015, listed only 15 MEPs (of a total of 23), 21 local parliamentary assistants and 5 accredited parliamentary assistants (of a total of 54 assistants). The investigations also revealed circumstances, particularly the accumulation of employment contracts of European parliamentary assistants, that made it seem unlikely that the parliamentary assistants concerned were genuinely performing duties connected with the European Parliament;

- the investigation revealed that in his capacity as Member of the European Parliament, Jean-Marie Le Pen employed a parliamentary assistant in 2011, but the parliamentary assistant in question told investigators that he had worked on the election campaign of another Member during the period concerned, and that Jean-Marie Le Pen arranged for the payment of parliamentary assistants’ salaries to three other people, although they had done virtually no work whatsoever in that capacity;

- the investigation also revealed that in his capacity as President of the Front National at the time of the alleged offences, Jean-Marie Le Pen established a system, brought to light by the European Parliament, of using EU funds to pay for some of the Front National’s employees through parliamentary contracts with people who, in reality, had worked for the party, thereby infringing the EU rules in force’.

On the basis of these considerations and in view of the fact that there is no evidence of or any reason to suspect fumus persecutionis , the committee recommended that Parliament decide to waive the immunity of Jean-Marie Le Pen.

Documents
2019/03/04
   EP - Vote in committee

History

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

committees/0/rapporteur
  • name: CHRYSOGONOS Kostas date: 2018-11-20T00:00:00 group: European United Left - Nordic Green Left abbr: GUE/NGL
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Old
Vote in committee, 1st reading/single reading
New
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2019-03-06T00:00:00
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summary
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date
2019-03-12T00:00:00
type
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EP
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2019-03-12T00:00:00
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Decision by Parliament, 1st reading/single reading
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EP
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summary
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2019-03-12T00:00:00
type
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EP
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summary
procedure/Modified legal basis
Rules of Procedure EP 159
procedure/Other legal basis
Rules of Procedure EP 159
events/1/docs/0/url
Old
http://www.europarl.europa.eu/sides/getDoc.do?type=REPORT&mode=XML&reference=A8-2019-0167&language=EN
New
http://www.europarl.europa.eu/doceo/document/A-8-2019-0167_EN.html
events/2/docs/0/url
Old
http://www.europarl.europa.eu/sides/getDoc.do?type=TA&language=EN&reference=P8-TA-2019-0136
New
http://www.europarl.europa.eu/doceo/document/TA-8-2019-0136_EN.html
committees/0
type
Responsible Committee
body
EP
committee_full
Legal Affairs
committee
JURI
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False
rapporteur
name: CHRYSOGONOS Kostas date: 2018-11-20T00:00:00 group: European United Left - Nordic Green Left abbr: GUE/NGL
committees/0
type
Responsible Committee
body
EP
committee_full
Legal Affairs
committee
JURI
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False
date
2018-11-20T00:00:00
rapporteur
name: CHRYSOGONOS Kostas group: European United Left - Nordic Green Left abbr: GUE/NGL
activities
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    2018-11-20T00:00:00
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    name: CHRYSOGONOS Kostas group: European United Left - Nordic Green Left abbr: GUE/NGL
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    • date: 2019-03-04T00:00:00 type: Vote in committee, 1st reading/single reading body: EP
    • date: 2019-03-06T00:00:00 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=A8-2019-0167&language=EN title: A8-0167/2019 summary: The Committee on Legal Affairs adopted the report by Kostas CHRYSOGONOS (GUE/NGL, EL) on the request for waiver of the immunity of Jean-Marie LE PEN (NI, FR). The Examining Magistrates at the Paris Regional Court have requested the waiver of the parliamentary immunity of Jean-Marie Le Pen in order to hear him in connection with alleged criminal offences relating to breach of trust, concealment of breach of trust, fraud by an organised group, forgery and the use of forged documents, and concealed work by concealment of employees, in relation to the employment conditions of assistants of Members of the European Parliament affiliated to the Front National. The committee noted the following points: - the Front National’s establishment plan, published in February 2015, listed only 15 MEPs (of a total of 23), 21 local parliamentary assistants and 5 accredited parliamentary assistants (of a total of 54 assistants). The investigations also revealed circumstances, particularly the accumulation of employment contracts of European parliamentary assistants, that made it seem unlikely that the parliamentary assistants concerned were genuinely performing duties connected with the European Parliament; - the investigation revealed that in his capacity as Member of the European Parliament, Jean-Marie Le Pen employed a parliamentary assistant in 2011, but the parliamentary assistant in question told investigators that he had worked on the election campaign of another Member during the period concerned, and that Jean-Marie Le Pen arranged for the payment of parliamentary assistants’ salaries to three other people, although they had done virtually no work whatsoever in that capacity; - the investigation also revealed that in his capacity as President of the Front National at the time of the alleged offences, Jean-Marie Le Pen established a system, brought to light by the European Parliament, of using EU funds to pay for some of the Front National’s employees through parliamentary contracts with people who, in reality, had worked for the party, thereby infringing the EU rules in force’. On the basis of these considerations and in view of the fact that there is no evidence of or any reason to suspect fumus persecutionis , the committee recommended that Parliament decide to waive the immunity of Jean-Marie Le Pen.
    • date: 2019-03-12T00:00:00 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=P8-TA-2019-0136 title: T8-0136/2019 summary: The European Parliament decided to waive the immunity of Jean-Marie LE PEN (NI, FR). To recall, the request for waiver of the immunity of Jean-Marie Le Pen was forwarded on 5 September 2018 by the Ministry of Justice of the French Republic on the basis of a request made by the Prosecutor-General at the Paris Court of Appeal, in connection with a case pending before the Examining Magistrates pertaining to alleged offences of breach of trust, concealment of breach of trust, fraud by an organised group, forgery and the use of forged documents, and concealed work by concealment of employees, in relation to the employment conditions of parliamentary assistants. The Examining Magistrates at the Paris Regional Court have requested the waiver of the parliamentary immunity of Jean-Marie Le Pen in order to hear him in connection with alleged offences. Parliament noted the following points: - during a search conducted at the headquarters of the Front National in February 2016, a number of documents were seized in the office of the treasurer of the Front National, which bore witness to the party’s desire to make ‘savings’ through the European Parliament’s defrayal of the remuneration of employees of the party by virtue of their capacity as parliamentary assistants; - the Front National’s establishment plan, published in February 2015, listed only 15 Members of the European Parliament (of a total of 23), 21 local parliamentary assistants and 5 accredited parliamentary assistants (of a total of 54 assistants). The investigations also revealed circumstances, particularly the accumulation of employment contracts of European parliamentary assistants, that made it seem unlikely that the parliamentary assistants concerned were genuinely performing duties connected with the European Parliament; - the investigation revealed that in his capacity as Member of the European Parliament, Jean-Marie Le Pen employed a parliamentary assistant in 2011, but the parliamentary assistant in question told investigators that he had worked on the election campaign of another Member during the period concerned, and that Jean-Marie Le Pen arranged for the payment of parliamentary assistants’ salaries to three other people, although they had done virtually no work whatsoever in that capacity; - the investigation also revealed that in his capacity as President of the Front National at the time of the alleged offences, Jean-Marie Le Pen established a system, brought to light by the European Parliament, of using EU funds to pay for some of the Front National’s employees through parliamentary contracts with people who, in reality, had worked for the party, thereby infringing the EU rules in force’. Parliament found that there is no evidence of or any reason to suspect fumus persecutionis , i.e. a sufficiently serious and precise suspicion that the proceedings have been brought with the intention of causing the Member political damage.
    links
    other
      procedure/Modified legal basis
      Rules of Procedure EP 159
      procedure/dossier_of_the_committee
      Old
      JURI/8/14849
      New
      • JURI/8/14849
      procedure/legal_basis/0
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      procedure/legal_basis/0
      Rules of Procedure EP 006
      procedure/stage_reached
      Old
      Awaiting committee decision
      New
      Procedure completed
      procedure/subject
      Old
      • 8.40.01.03 Members' immunity
      New
      8.40.01.03
      Members' immunity
      activities
        committees
        • body: EP responsible: True committee_full: Legal Affairs committee: JURI
        links
        other
          procedure
          dossier_of_the_committee
          JURI/8/14849
          reference
          2018/2247(IMM)
          title
          Request for the waiver of the immunity of Jean-Marie Le Pen
          legal_basis
          Rules of Procedure EP 006
          stage_reached
          Awaiting committee decision
          subtype
          Waiver of immunity
          type
          IMM - Members' immunity
          subject
          8.40.01.03 Members' immunity