The European Parliament’s Legal Affairs Committee (JURI) unanimously approved the reports recommending the waiver of Belgian MEP Marc Tarabella and Italian MEP Andrea Cozzolino’s immunities on Tuesday.
During an extraordinary meeting yesterday morning, the JURI committee, composed of 23 members, unanimously approved the waiver of the parliamentary immunity of Tarabella and Cozzolino, both from the Socialists and Democrat groups (S&D). This waiver was asked for by the Belgian justice in the framework of the Qatargrate scandal investigations.
The rapporteur on the two reports was French MEP Manon Aubry (The Left).
“The charges are based on testimonies from [Pier-Antonio] Panzeri and [Francesco] Giorgi and are sufficiently substantiated for us to consider that the judiciary needs to hear Tarabella and Cozzolino. I hope this waiver of immunity will shed light on this corruption scandal because, for now, we only see the tip of the iceberg,” she told Belgian news media RTBF.
Cozzolino decided to self-exclude from his political group, but Tarabella refused and was finally excluded earlier this month.
The committee heard Cozzolino behind closed doors, but Tarabella refused since he preferred to save his explanations for the investigators.
In a letter to the JURI commission dated 23 January, which RTBF obtained, Tarabella, who claims he is innocent, wrote: “It seems to me that the question of the lifting of my immunity should not be debated; it should of course, be lifted. Although I am fully aware of the possible consequences of this waiver of immunity, I am in favour of it. I want to fight!”
Tarabella had already expressed his support for this immunity lift earlier, saying he does not want to “hide behind” it.
The waiver procedure normally takes months, but the Parliament moved quickly on both cases, and both reports should now be submitted to a vote by all MEPs on Thursday.
(Anne-Sophie Gayet | EURACTIV.com)
Source: euractiv.com
