In a judgment handed down on Thursday 14 December (case C-767/21 P), the Court of Justice of the European Union has upheld the judgment of the General Court of the EU rejecting the appeal by MEPs against the ban on displaying national flags on their desks in the Chamber.
A number of MEPs, notably from the Identity and Democracy Group, appealed to the Court of Justice of the European Union against a judgment by the General Court of October 2021 (case T-88/20), which dismissed their appeal against a decision by the President of the European Parliament prohibiting them from displaying national flags on their desks in the European Parliament Chamber (see EUROPE 12423/3). They claimed that such a ban represents an abuse of power that violates the Rules of Procedure and their freedom of expression.
In its judgment, the Court dismissed the MEPs’ appeal. It considers that the display of national flags on MEPs’ desks is inconsistent with the representative function of these MEPs as defined by the Treaties, to which the European Parliament’s Rules of Procedure expressly refer (Article 10). This limits the means of expression of MEPs outside their speaking time in order to guarantee both equality between MEPs and good order in the Chamber.
In addition, the CJEU considers that the measure at issue does not produce legal effects of such a nature as to affect the conditions under which the persons concerned may exercise their mandate as members of parliament, by bringing about a significant change in their legal situation, since its effects do not go beyond those produced by the prohibition provided for in the Rules of Procedure.
To see the judgment of the Court of Justice: https://aeur.eu/f/a65 (Original version in French by Mathieu Bion)