In a judgment handed down on Wednesday 16 July (case T-480/24), the General Court of the European Union dismissed the action brought in September 2024 by the late political leader Jean-Marie Le Pen and his heirs seeking to annul a decision of the European Parliament requiring him to repay the sum of €303,200.99, considered to have been unduly received in respect of the mandate expenses (office rental, telecommunications costs, IT equipment) of an MEP.
These irregularities are described in a report by the European Anti-Fraud Office (OLAF) covering the period from 2009 to 2018.
According to the General Court, in this procedure, Parliament did not infringe the principles of legal certainty or the protection of legitimate expectations. In January 2024, Mr Le Pen was informed of the proceedings and invited to submit his observations. The recovery decision also contains a detailed statement of the charges and the applicable rules.
According to the European judge, the right to a fair trial, which relates only to judicial proceedings before a ’tribunal’, had not been violated either. In the course of its investigation, OLAF informed Mr Le Pen of all the allegations and invited him to submit his observations, which he did. The same was true during the administrative procedure initiated by the European Parliament.
In January 2016, the General Court of the EU upheld a request from the Parliament to Mr Le Pen for the repayment of €320,026.23 unduly paid in parliamentary assistance (see EUROPE 11727/19).
To see the General Court’s judgment (in French): https://aeur.eu/f/hwg (Original version in French by Mathieu Bion)