Europees Parlement wil immuniteit Italiaanse Europarlementariër niet intrekken (en)

Luigi De Magistris (ALDE, IT) acted in the performance of his duties as an MEP when he publicly accused an Italian firm of having allegedly wasted public funds and colluding with criminals, said Parliament, which therefore decided to defend his immunity.

Bagnoliafutura SpA, a firm based in Naples, took Mr De Magistris to court for having "abused freedom of speech, and failed to comply with the important requirement to tell the truth."

Mr De Magistris, who was an MEP at the time of the accusations, had published a press release on his web site in 2009 accusing Bagnoliafutura of wasting public money and involvement with criminals.

Parliament agreed that the accusations made by Mr De Magistris were directly linked to the performance of his duties as an MEP and so decided to defend his immunity. According to the rules, European Parliamentary immunity does not cover false accusation offences unless they are directly connected to the performance of the political mandate of a Member.

Procedure: Immunity