Request for the waiver of the immunity of Elisabetta Gualmini

The European Parliament decided by 382 votes to 254, with 19 abstentions, not to waive Elisabetta Gualmini’s immunity.

On 27 February 2025, the Belgian Federal Prosecutor issued a request for the waiver of the immunity of Elisabetta Gualmini, a Member of the European Parliament elected in Italy, in connection with criminal proceedings to be instituted against her. An ongoing investigation in the context of the so-called Qatar-gate affair has allegedly revealed the existence of a criminal organisation within the Union institutions, in particular at the European Parliament, the purpose of which was to use its network of influence within the Union institutions, in particular with respect to Members, assistants and officials, with the aim of influencing Parliament’s decision-making process in favour of the geopolitical interests of certain third countries. It has allegedly emerged in the course of that investigation that Elisabetta Gualmini may have been involved in acts of corruption by accepting that the alleged criminal organisation exercise its influence in order for her to obtain the post of vice-president of her political group in October 2022.

More specifically, Elisabetta Gualmini is suspected of having allegedly committed, between 1 July 2019 and 10 December 2022, unlawful acts which may be classified under Belgian law as participation in the activity of a criminal organisation and as passive bribery, criminal offences under the Belgian Criminal Code. Both the request and the additional information received from the Belgian Federal Prosecutor provide only indications of alleged acts concerning the period from 4 October to 2 December 2022, leaving the period before 4 October 2022 without any substantiation. There is therefore an inconsistency between the period in which the alleged offence was committed and the justification provided in the reasons for the request for the waiver of the immunity.

Parliament stressed that the alleged offence does not constitute an opinion or vote cast by Elisabetta Gualmini in the exercise of her duties and that the subsequent request to lift her immunity is not related to such an opinion or vote.

Several factors raise concerns that the intention of the proceedings may have been to damage Elisabetta Gualmini’s reputation, in particular:

- the inconsistencies as regards the period in which the alleged offence was committed and the justification provided;

- the uncertainties as to the elements on which the request for the waiver of her immunity is based;

- the reasons for the request;

- the lack of sufficient evidence or explanations for the alleged wrongdoing, including in the context of the established political processes.

Overall, there is a lack of sufficient elements for Parliament to reach a serious and well-founded ground to waive the immunity of Elisabetta Gualmini.

Therefore, Parliament concludes that there may be a fumus persecutionis, that is to say, concrete evidence suggesting that the legal proceedings were initiated to undermine the political activity of Elisabetta Gualmini and in particular her activity and, therefore, that of Parliament as a whole, including of its internal political decision-making process expressed through the established and regular work of a political group.