Brussels, 29/03/2001 (Agence Europe) - The European Parliament Socialist group, during its meeting on 28 March, called on the Parliament President, Nicole Fontaine, to modify her position over the request to lift the parliamentary immunity of the President of Forza Italia, Silvio Berlusconi, position which, he says, violates the EP Regulations (see, among others, EUROPE of 22 March, p.5). The group accepted the proposal from its President, Enrique Baron, to state its readiness to fully use all the parliamentary means in order for the EP President to fully respect the Parliament's rules (Articles 3.3 and 6) by informing the plenary and passing on without delay to the Legal Committee to request from the Spanish Supreme Court calling for the lifting of the parliamentary immunity of Mr Berlusconi and Mr Dell'Utri. (let us recall that Article 3.3 of the regulation specifies that the MEPs have the right to consult any dossier in the possession of the Parliament or any other Committee, with the exception of personal dossiers and accounts, whose consultation is only authorised to the MEPs concerned, and that Article 6 asserts that any request sent to the Parliament President by the competent authority of a Member States in view of lifting the immunity of an MEP is read in plenary session and returned to the competent committee, and that this committee examines the requests without delay and in the order in which they are presented).
Furthermore, in feeling that this is a question that not only concerns the Socialist group, the MEPs called on Enrique Baron to contact the President of other political groups in order to meet them as quickly as possible. This is a question of the dignity of the Parliament and the rights of its members, asserts the Socialist group, which also invites the President of the Constitutional Committee to include this point on the agenda of the next meeting of its Committee.