On Wednesday 16 May, the General Court of the EU rejected the appeal brought by French National Front member Mylène Troszczynski (ENF) against the decision of the European Parliament to recover the amount of €56,554 paid unduly for Parliamentary assistance between October 2014 and June 2015 (case -626/16) (see EUROPE 11727).
In particular, the General Court considers that: - the Secretary General of the Parliament is competent to adopt decisions to recover amounts paid unduly in the framework of the application measures concerning the status of members of the European Parliament; - the defence rights had not been breached; - there is nothing in the dossier that establishes that the local assistant actually carried out duties for Troszczynski; - there is no suggestion that according to Parliament, the position of parliamentary assistant is incompatible with the voluntary political activities carried out by Troszczynski's assistant for the National Front; - the burden of proof is on MEPs to show that the amounts received cover expenditure actually incurred; - Troszczynski was not on the receiving end of discriminatory or partial treatment.
In March, the General Court returned two similar judgements in two cases concerning two other National Front MEPs – Jean-Marie Le Pen and Bruno Gollnisch – who were ordered to pay back a total of €600,000 to Parliament that had been paid for fictive positions (cases T-140/16 and T-624/16) (see EUROPE 11976). (Original version in French by Mathieu Bion)