Through two judgments handed down on Wednesday 29 November, the General Court of the EU has upheld the decisions of the European Parliament of 23 and 24 June 2016 to recover the sums unduly paid to two MEPs who at that time were members of the French Front National – Dominique Bilde (ENF, Case T-633/16) and Sophie Montel (ex-ENF and currently EFDD, CaseT-634/16). The sums were paid respectively from October and August 2014 until June 2015 for parliamentary assistance that has not been proven.
In the case of Montel, the General Court nevertheless considered that, for the period from February to April 2015, the Parliament did not produce any evidence to validly refute the documents produced by Montel as prima facie proof that the assistant in question carried out work connected with the exercise of Montel's mandate as an MEP.
The General Court therefore fully rejected the appeal lodged by Bilde, and partially rejected the appeal lodged by Montel, against the decisions of the European Parliament to recover the sums paid. It also rejected the whole of their argument, on the grounds that they had not proved the work of their assistants.
In particular, the General Court upheld that: - the secretary general of the Parliament is competent to adopt decisions for the recovery of sums unduly paid and that the decision to recover sums unduly paid in respect of parliamentary assistance allowance does not harm the independence of MEPs; - it is for MEPs to prove that the amounts paid were used to cover expenses actually incurred and resulting "entirely and exclusively" in the employment of their assistants; - that no part of the Parliament’s decision could lead to a finding that it had considered that the function of a parliamentary assistant is, in itself, incompatible with the voluntary political activity carried out by assistants for the Front National, the Parliament’s decision being based only on the fact that Montel was not able to prove that her assistant carried out actual tasks for her; - that the two MEPs had not proved that they were victims of discriminatory and biased treatment due to the fact they belonged to the Front National, and that they had not proved that this party had been, in the past or currently, the object of similar proceedings carried out by the Parliament.
Unless the Parliament modifies its decision regarding Montel, Bilde and Montel will thus have to recover the sums unduly paid of €40,320 and €77,276.42 respectively. (Original version in French by Francesco Gariazzo)