EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT: COMMITTEE CLARIFIES RULES ON LIFTING OF MEPS' IMMUNITY.

Adopting the report by Andrew Duff (ELDR, United Kingdom) by 26 votes to 2 with 12 abstentions, the European Parliament's Constitutional Affairs Committee has gone some way towards clarifying the conditions for lifting Parliamentary immunity. The modification, which concerns Article 6 of Parliament's staff regulations, includes two new elements: the first concerns the authorities in the Member States allowed to request the lifting of immunity, the second concerns scope for present and previous MEPs to ask the President to defend their privileges and immunities.Regarding the lifting of immunity, it is acknowledged that several authorities in any single Member State may be allowed to table such demands, whereas the current Regulation refers simply to "the authority", without further defining this single authority. MEPs thus propose that after consultation with the Member States, the Legal Affairs Committee should draw up an indicative list of authorities liable to submit requests for the lifting of immunity.The...