Request for the defence of immunity of Helmut Geuking

The European Parliament decided to defend the privileges and immunities of Helmut GEUKING (EPP, DE).

As a reminder, Helmut GEUKING, Member of the European Parliament, requested the defence of his parliamentary immunity in civil proceedings pending before the Hamburg Regional Court.

Parliament recalled that a German company, one of its subsidiaries and an expert in company reorganisations hired by the latter are suing Helmut Geuking for injunctive relief, monetary compensation and damages in connection with statements he made against the complainants from the European Parliament premises in Brussels and in a video published on YouTube and in a local German newspaper in May and June 2020 respectively.

Parliament considered that the statements made by Helmut Geuking were clearly made in his capacity as a full member of the European Parliament's Committee on Employment and Social Affairs, which is responsible for employment policy and all aspects of social policy. It therefore appeared that those statements were made in the context of the exercise of his mandate as a Member of the European Parliament.

Furthermore, in this case the amount of damages claimed by the complainants, including prohibitory injunction, damages and monetary compensation, amount to EUR 620 000 and appeared to resemble ‘punitive damages’, i.e. the amount asked is to be primarily intended as a deterrent against a repetition of the statement by Helmut Geuking and to prevent potential imitators from making similar statements.

Therefore, following the recommendation of its Legal Affairs Committee, Parliament considered that Helmut Geuking’s privileges and immunities should be defended.