The European Parliament decided not to waive the immunity of Nadine MORANO (EPP, FR).

As a reminder, the French Ministry of Justice transmitted a request from the public prosecutor of the Aix-en-Provence Court of Appeal for the waiver of the immunity of Nadine Morano, Member of the European Parliament, with the sole aim of being able to examine her in relation to a civil action brought against her on the grounds of alleged online public defamation.

On 7 October 2018, during a television programme aired on France 3, Nadine Morano questioned the activity of a vessel chartered by the complainant and operating in the Mediterranean Sea. Nadine Morano’s team posted three messages of the same nature on Nadine Morano’s Twitter account as ‘live tweets’.

In making the comments, Nadine Morano allegedly committed the offence of public defamation, punishable under French law.

The resolution stated that those statements were made in the wider context of the political debate, the topic of which is recurrent in the European Parliament’s plenary.

In this context, Parliament considered that the statements made by Nadine Morano were clearly made in her capacity as a Member of the European Parliament and a direct and obvious connection between the statements under consideration and the parliamentary mandate of Nadine Morano can be deemed to exist.

Therefore, following the recommendation of its Legal Affairs Committee, Parliament decided not to waive the immunity of Nadine Morano.

The Committee on Legal Affairs adopted the report by Angel DZHAMBAZKI (ECR, BG) on the request for waiver of Nadine Morano's immunity.

The French Ministry of Justice transmitted a request from the public prosecutor of the Aix-en-Provence Court of Appeal for the waiver of the immunity of Nadine Morano, Member of the European Parliament, with the sole aim of being able to examine her in relation to a civil action brought against her on the grounds of alleged online public defamation.

As a reminder, on 7 October 2018, during a television programme aired on France 3, Nadine Morano questioned the activity of a vessel chartered by the complainant and operating in the Mediterranean Sea. Nadine Morano’s team posted three messages of the same nature on Nadine Morano’s Twitter account as ‘live tweets’.

In making the comments, Nadine Morano allegedly committed the offence of public defamation, punishable under French law.

Nadine Morano has been a Member of the European Parliament Delegation for relations with the Pan-African Parliament (DPAP), a substitute Member of the European Parliament Delegation to the ACP-EU Joint Parliamentary Assembly and a Member of the Committee on Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs, which is responsible for matters relating, inter alia , to measures relating to the entry and movement of persons, asylum and migration, as well as measures relating to the integrated management of external borders.

Members recalled that nowadays the political debate in which Members of the European Parliament participate, in the exercise of their mandate, increasingly takes place also outside Parliament’s premises, including on air and on the internet, through the use of social networking services such as Twitter.

The statements relate to a topic that is regularly debated in European Parliament’s plenary sessions.

Against this background, the statements made by Nadine Morano were clearly made in her capacity as a Member of the European Parliament and whereas a direct and obvious connection between the statements under consideration and the parliamentary mandate of Nadine Morano can be deemed to exist.

In the light of these considerations, the committee responsible recommended that the European Parliament should decide not to waive the immunity of Nadine Morano.