The Belgian authorities demanded the immunity of Nikola Minchev and four more MEPs

The Belgian authorities demanded the removal of the parliamentary immunity of five European MPs, including the Bulgarian Nikola Minchev of the PP and the Renew Europe.

Parliament chairman Roberta Metsola announced this on Wednesday, saying she had received requests from the Belgian Federal Prosecutor’s Office, where one of the seats of parliament is located.

The five MEPs are at the center of an investigation into corruption practices related to the lobbying of Chinese technology giant Huaway.

After the news website « Politico » announced earlier this week that the Belgian authorities had requested the immunity of five MEPs, some of them, including Minchev, confirmed the news.

The Belgian judiciary did not comment on, but Roberta Metsola was expected to indicate the names of the deputies involved during the plenary session on Wednesday. This was done, although the chairman of the parliament did not provide any information on the reason for the request for the removal of the legal protection of members of the parliament.

Names

The five MPs are Maltese socialist Daniel Atard, the Bulgarian liberal Nikola Minchev and the Italian MPs Conservatives Salvatore de Meo, Fulvio Martyello and Juzi Princhi, writes Belgian public television.

« The requests have been forwarded to the Legal Affairs Committee, » Metsola said.

Why are Huaway investigated and parliament

The Belgian Federal Prosecutor’s Office has been investigating corruption practices related to Huaway lobbying for some time. According to the Federal Prosecutor’s Office, the company has applied them regularly and very discreetly since 2021, under the guise of commercial lobbying and in various forms, such as fees or excessive gifts, including covering a restaurant and travel cost or regular invitations for football matches.

How to remove immunity

MEPs whose immunity is required can be heard by the Legal Committee and submit documents in their defense. However, they are not present during the discussion of the grounds of its members, which occurs in closed doors.

The rights do not provide for the MEPs to declare themselves that they are abandoning their immunity. They may refuse to provide information to the legal committee and not appear when they are called in it.

The current practice of the European Parliament shows that in extremely rare cases a request has been refused to lower immunity so that a member of the parliament can be investigated.