In a judgment handed down on Wednesday 9 July (Case T-1031/23), the General Court of the European Union has annulled a decision by the European Parliament to refuse Greek MEP Eva Kaili, implicated in the alleged Qatargate corruption affair, access to certain elements of her file in a separate case concerning the management of allowances for accredited parliamentary assistants.
According to the General Court, the documents requested by the former MEP under Regulation (EC) No 1049/2001 on access to documents of the EU institutions concern the Parliament’s administrative activities and do not contain Parliament’s internal positions on the matter.
Furthermore, the General Court is of the opinion that these documents relate to Parliament’s examination of irregularities in the actual management of parliamentary allowances, whereas the case concerns the decision by the president of Parliament to instruct the Committee on Legal Affairs to rule on the request to lift parliamentary immunity made by the European Public Prosecutor at the end of 2022 (case T-46/23, see EUROPE 13331/33).
Noting also that access to the documents at issue would not prejudice the proper administration of justice, the General Court concludes that such access cannot be refused on the ground of the protection of court proceedings.
See the General Court’s judgment: https://aeur.eu/f/hrt (Original version in French by Mathieu Bion)