EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT 2014 - 2019
Plenary sitting
A8-0152/2015
11.5.2015
REPORT
on the request for waiver of the immunity of Jérôme Lavrilleux (2015/2014(IMM))
Committee on Legal Affairs
Rapporteur: Heidi Hautala
RR\1061214EN.doc PE552.088v02-00
EN United in diversityEN PR_IMM_Waiver
CONTENTS
Page
PROPOSAL FOR A EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT DECISION...... 3
EXPLANATORY STATEMENT ...... 5
RESULT OF FINAL VOTE IN COMMITTEE...... 7
PE552.088v02-00 2/7 RR\1061214EN.doc EN PROPOSAL FOR A EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT DECISION on the request for waiver of the immunity of Jérôme Lavrilleux (2015/2014(IMM))
The European Parliament,
– having regard to the request for waiver of the immunity of Jérôme Lavrilleux, forwarded on 23 December 2014 by the French Minister of Justice at the request of the Chief Prosecutor at the Paris Court of Appeal, and announced in plenary on 15 January 2015,
– having heard Jérôme Lavrilleux in accordance with Rule 9(5) of its Rules of Procedure,
– having regard to Articles 8 and 9 of Protocol No 7 on the Privileges and Immunities of the European Union, and Article 6(2) of the Act of 20 September 1976 concerning the election of the members of the European Parliament by direct universal suffrage,
– having regard to the judgments of the Court of Justice of the European Union of 12 May 1964, 10 July 1986, 15 and 21 October 2008, 19 March 2010, 6 September 2011 and 17 January 20131,
– having regard to Article 26 of the Constitution of the French Republic,
– having regard to Rule 5(2), Rule 6(1) and Rule 9 of its Rules of Procedure,
– having regard to the report of the Committee on Legal Affairs (A8-0152/2015),
A. whereas the Chief Prosecutor at the Paris Court of Appeal has requested the waiver of immunity of Jérôme Lavrilleux, Member of the European Parliament, in connection with an ongoing judicial investigation into charges of forgery, use of forged documents, breach of trust, attempted fraud and complicity in and concealment of those offences, illegal financing of an election campaign and concealment of and complicity in that offence; and whereas the French judges would like, in this context, to take a custodial or semi-custodial measure against Jérôme Lavrilleux;
B. whereas Article 9 of Protocol No 7 on the Privileges and Immunities of the European Union states that Members of the European Parliament shall enjoy, in the territory of their own state, the immunities accorded to members of the Parliament of that state;
C. whereas Article 26, paragraphs 2 and 3, of the French Constitution provides that no
1 Judgment of the Court of Justice of 12 May 1964, Wagner v Fohrmann and Krier, 101/63, ECLI:EU:C:1964:28; judgment of the Court of Justice of 10 July 1986, Wybot v Faure and others, 149/85, ECLI:EU:C:1986:310; judgment of the General Court of 15 October 2008, Mote v Parliament, T-345/05, ECLI:EU:T:2008:440; judgment of the Court of Justice of 21 October 2008, Marra v De Gregorio and Clemente, C-200/07 and C-201/07, ECLI:EU:C:2008:579; judgment of the General Court of 19 March 2010, Gollnisch v Parliament, T-42/06, ECLI:EU:T:2010:102; judgment of the Court of Justice of 6 September 2011, Patriciello, C-163/10, ECLI: EU:C:2011:543; judgment of the General Court of 17 January 2013, Gollnisch v Parliament, T-346/11 and T-347/11, ECLI:EU:T:2013:23.
RR\1061214EN.doc 3/7 PE552.088v02-00 EN Member of Parliament shall be arrested for a serious crime or other major offence, nor shall he be subjected to any other custodial or semi-custodial measure, without the authorisation of the Bureau of the House of which he is a member; that such authorisation shall not be required in the case of a serious crime or other major offence committed flagrante delicto or when a conviction has become final; and that the Assembly may request the suspension of detention, of custodial or semi-custodial measures or of proceedings against one of its Members;
D. whereas Jérôme Lavrilleux is suspected of having taken part in a system of false invoicing for campaign expenditure;
E. whereas the waiver of the immunity of Jérôme Lavrilleux should be subject to the conditions indicated in Rule 9(6) of the Rules of Procedure;
F. whereas the alleged charges are not related to the position of Jérôme Lavrilleux as a Member of the European Parliament and arise from his former position as a deputy campaign director in the last presidential election in France;
G. whereas the prosecution does not concern opinions expressed or votes cast by Jérôme Lavrilleux as a Member of the European Parliament in the performance of his duties within the meaning of Article 8 of Protocol No 7 on the Privileges and Immunities of the European Union;
H. whereas Parliament has found no evidence of fumus persecutionis, that is to say, a sufficiently serious and precise presumption that the proceedings were initiated with the intention of causing political damage to the Member;
1. Decides to waive the immunity of Jérôme Lavrilleux;
2. Instructs its President to forward this decision and the report of its committee responsible immediately to the competent authority of the French Republic and to Jérôme Lavrilleux.
PE552.088v02-00 4/7 RR\1061214EN.doc EN EXPLANATORY STATEMENT
1. Facts After the French presidential election in 2012 (when Mr Hollande was elected as President of the Republic), it appeared that the campaign accounts of Nicolas Sarkozy exceeded the limits set in the law for the campaign expenses of candidates for the presidency. As a consequence, France’s national commission for campaign accounts and political financing decided to reject his campaign accounts on 19 December 2012.
It is in this context that some media suspected in 2014 that an invoicing arrangement had been used to bill the political party supporting the candidacy of Nicolas Sarkozy (Union pour un Mouvement Populaire – UMP) for sums that should have been paid by the candidate and declared in his campaign accounts.
Judicial investigations started in March 2014 and notably included searches and seizures of documents, as well as hearings. Some individuals were also indicted. Jérôme Lavrilleux, who was Nicolas Sarkozy’s deputy campaign director during the election campaign in 2012, was heard twice, on 17 June 2014 and on 24 October 2014.
The inquiry focuses on a system of false invoicing set up by directors of ‘Event & Cie’ (a subsidiary of the Bygmalion Group in charge of the organisation of events and publicity campaigns) together with members of the UMP and the Nicolas Sarkozy campaign financing association. It is alleged that ‘Event & Cie’ sent to the UMP invoices to the tune of EUR 18,556,175 for meetings that did not take place, the actual services being provided for the organisation of meetings for Nicolas Sarkozy’s campaign. Such a system is claimed to have been aimed at circumventing the rules on the limits for election expenditure, as the real cost of the campaign would have exceeded the maximum permitted under the law.
Given Jérôme Lavrilleux’s duties in Nicolas Sarkozy’s campaign team as deputy campaign director, the French judges would like to take him into custody for questioning in order to establish any responsibility within the candidate’s campaign team and within the campaign team association regarding the allegations on the establishment of a false invoicing arrangement.
2. Procedure
The chief prosecutor at the Paris Court of Appeal issued a request for the waiver of the parliamentary immunity of Jérôme Lavrilleux, which was transmitted by the French Minister of Justice to the President of the European Parliament on 23 December 2014.
The President of the European Parliament announced the request at the plenary sitting of 15 January 2015 and referred it to the Committee on Legal Affairs.
Mr Lavrilleux was heard by the Committee on Legal Affairs on 24 March 2015.
3. Justification for the proposed decision
RR\1061214EN.doc 5/7 PE552.088v02-00 EN The immunity of Members of the European Parliament is protected by Article 8 and Article 9 of the Protocol (No 7) on the Privileges and Immunities of the European Union.
In order to enjoy immunity under Article 8 of the Protocol (No 7) on the Privileges and Immunities of the European Union, the proceedings must concern an opinion expressed or a vote cast by a Member of the European Parliament in the performance of his or her duties. It appears from the above-mentioned facts that the immunity provided for in Article 8 of the Protocol (No 7) on the Privileges and Immunities of the European Union is not applicable to the present case.
According to Article 9 of the Protocol (No 7) on the Privileges and Immunities of the European Union, Members enjoy, in the territory of their own State, the immunities accorded to members of their parliament.
In turn, the French Constitution (Article 26 par. 2 and 3) stipulates that Members of Parliament may be arrested or otherwise deprived of their freedom of face restriction thereof only with the permission of the Bureau of their Assembly, except in case of flagrant crime or in the case of a final conviction by a court of law. Moreover, the Assembly may request the suspension of detention, of custodial or semi-custodial measures or of proceedings against one of its Members.
Given that the waiver of Mr Lavrilleux’s immunity is requested with the aim to take a custodial or semi-custodial measure against him, a decision of the European Parliament is therefore needed.
The purpose of personal immunity is to ensure the independence of the Members in the performance of their duties and particularly to protect them during their term of office from pressures taking the shape of threats of arrest or legal proceedings.
The alleged system of false invoicing described above and the alleged charges are not related to the performance of Mr Lavrilleux’s duties as a Member of the European Parliament but related to his previous charge in a presidential election campaign team set up for a vote that took place two years before Mr Lavrilleux was elected Member of the European Parliament. Furthermore, there is a lack of fumus persecutionis, that is to say there is no well-founded suspicion that the legal proceedings have been instituted with the intention of causing political damage to the Member.
4. Conclusion
In light of the above and pursuant to Rule 9(3) of the Rules of Procedure, the Committee on Legal Affairs recommends that the European Parliament should waive the immunity of Jérôme Lavrilleux.
PE552.088v02-00 6/7 RR\1061214EN.doc EN RESULT OF FINAL VOTE IN COMMITTEE
Date adopted 6.5.2015
Result of final vote +: 16 –: 0 0: 0
Members present for the final vote Joëlle Bergeron, Marie-Christine Boutonnet, Jean-Marie Cavada, Kostas Chrysogonos, Mady Delvaux, Laura Ferrara, Dietmar Köster, Gilles Lebreton, António Marinho e Pinto, Pavel Svoboda, Tadeusz Zwiefka Substitutes present for the final vote Luis de Grandes Pascual, Angel Dzhambazki, Sylvia-Yvonne Kaufmann, Constance Le Grip, Virginie Rozière
RR\1061214EN.doc 7/7 PE552.088v02-00 EN