Request for the waiver of the immunity of Jörg Meuthen

The European Parliament decided by 618 votes to 41, with 36 abstentions, to waive the immunity of Jörg Meuthen (NI, DE).

As a reminder, the Berlin Public Prosecutor requested the waiver of the immunity of Jörg Meuthen, Member of the European Parliament elected for Germany, with a view to initiating criminal proceedings pursuant to Article 152(2) of the German Code of Criminal Procedure (Strafprozessordnung) for embezzlement, within the meaning of Article 266 of the Criminal Code, and for suspicion of having committed a criminal offence, within the meaning of Article 31d(1)(1) of the Political Parties Act (Parteiengesetz).

In his capacity as federal spokesperson for the ‘Alternative für Deutschland’ (AfD) party for the years 2016, 2017 and 2018, Jörg Meuthen:

- allegedly provided incorrect information when presenting the AfD’s activity report for 2016, relating to services totalling EUR 89 800 which he is said to have received from a Swiss company in the form of advertisements, posters, leaflets, posters and graphs for his election campaign as a candidate of the AfD in the regional elections of Baden-Württemberg of 13 March 2016, and which he is accused of not having clearly indicated in the AfD’s activity report for 2016, sent to the President of the German Bundestag on 21 December 2017;

- allegedly provided false or incomplete information on individual payments received in support of the election campaigns for the regional elections in North Rhine-Westphalia on 14 May 2017, and for the elections to the German Bundestag on 24 September 2017, when submitting the activity report for 2017;

- allegedly submitted an incorrect activity report to the President of the Bundestag for the financial year 2018, in connection with the elections to the 18th Bavarian Regional Parliament, which took place on 14 October 2018.

Parliament stated that the alleged offences do not concern opinions expressed or votes cast in the performance of the duties of a Member of the European Parliament. In this case, Parliament has found no evidence of fumus persecutionis, i.e. factual elements which indicate that the intention underlying the legal proceeding may be to damage a Member’s political activity and thus the European Parliament.

Therefore, following the recommendation of its Legal Affairs Committee, Parliament decided to waive the immunity of Jörg Meuthen.