European Parliament President Martin Schulz announced on Wednesday 26 October that he had involved the French police over the altercation on Thursday 6 October involving two UKIP MEPs – Steven Woolfe, who has since resigned from the British Eurosceptic party, and Mike Hookem.
At the previous European Parliament plenary session in Strasbourg, Woolfe collapsed close to the chamber after clashing with Hookem, whom he later accused of striking him on the face outside a UKIP meeting room. Hookem denies the accusation (see EUROPE 11641).
Schulz announced on Wednesday that, in view of the seriousness of the case and its possible criminal implications, he had referred the matter to the French authorities.
The advisory committee on the conduct of members, to which the matter was referred on 6 October, recommended that it be handed over to the competent French authorities. The two MEPs gave conflicting accounts of what had happened, so the committee decided that further evidence would be needed to clarify what had happened, a Parliament press release says.
Schulz said in plenary session that the altercation was a matter for the institution’s rules of procedure, MEPs being expected to abide by minimum rules of propriety, among which is mutual respect. He told former UKIP leader Nigel Farage, who asked whether the Parliament buildings were extra-territorial to French law, that that was, indeed, the case but that this extra-territoriality did not protect those who may have committed criminal offences. (Original version in French by Solenn Paulic)