REPORT on the request for waiver of the immunity of Gianluca Buonanno

23.5.2016 - (2016/2003(IMM))

Committee on Legal Affairs
Rapporteur: Evelyn Regner

PROPOSAL FOR A EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT DECISION

on the request for waiver of the immunity of Gianluca Buonanno

(2016/2003(IMM))

The European Parliament,

–  having regard to the request for authorisation to acquire data from telephone companies relating to telephone traffic of a number used by Gianluca Buonanno, forwarded on 20 November 2015 by the Deputy Public Prosecutor of the Ordinary Court of Vercelli, Italy, and announced in plenary on 14 December 2015, in connection with criminal proceedings initiated before the Ordinary Court of Vercelli on behalf of Gianluca Buonanno in relation to telephone threats he claims to have received from an unknown caller on his mobile telephone number on 14 April 2015 (Ref. No 2890/15 R.G.N.R. mod. 44),

–  having heard Gianluca Buonanno in accordance with Rule 9(5) of its Rules of Procedure,

–  having regard to Article 9 of Protocol No 7 on the Privileges and Immunities of the European Union, and Article 6(2) of the Act of 20 September 1976 concerning the election of the members of the European Parliament by direct universal suffrage,

–  having regard to the judgments of the Court of Justice of the European Union of 12 May 1964, 10 July 1986, 15 and 21 October 2008, 19 March 2010, 6 September 2011 and 17 January 2013[1],

–  having regard to Article 68 of the Constitution of the Italian Republic,

–  having regard to Article 4 of Law No 140 of 20 June 2003 laying down provisions giving effect to Article 68 of the Constitution and concerning the prosecution of persons in high offices of state[2],

–  having regard to Rule 5(2), Rule 6(1) and Rule 9 of its Rules of Procedure,

–  having regard to the report of the Committee on Legal Affairs (A8-0180/2016),

A.  whereas the Deputy Public Prosecutor of the Ordinary Court of Vercelli has forwarded a request for authorisation to acquire data from telephone companies relating to telephone records for a number used by a Member of the European Parliament elected with respect to Italy, Gianluca Buonanno, in connection with criminal proceedings initiated before the Ordinary Court of Vercelli on behalf of that Member in relation to telephone threats he claims to have received from an unknown caller on his mobile telephone number on 14 April 2015;

B.  whereas Article 9 of Protocol No 7 on the Privileges and Immunities of the European Union states that Members of the European Parliament enjoy, on the territory of their own Member State, the immunities accorded to members of the Member State’s parliament;

C.  whereas Article 68 of the Constitution of the Italian Republic states that ‘in default of the authorisation of his House, no Member of Parliament may be submitted to personal or home search, nor may he be arrested or otherwise deprived of his personal freedom, nor held in detention, except when a final court sentence is enforced, or when the Member is apprehended in the act of committing an offence for which arrest flagrante delicto is mandatory. Such an authorisation shall also be required in order to monitor a Member of Parliament’s conversations or communications, or to seize that Member’s mail.’;

D.  whereas Article 4 of Law No 140 of 20 June 2003 laying down provisions giving effect to Article 68 of the Constitution and concerning the prosecution of persons in high offices of state, inter alia, states that when it is required to acquire data concerning the telephone traffic of a Member of Parliament the competent authority should request authorisation from the chamber of which that person is a member;

E.  whereas the request for waiver of the immunity of Gianluca Buonanno concerns the access by the investigating authority to the phone call records of the Member’s mobile telephone number on the date on which he claims to have received threatening telephone calls;

F.  whereas in his request for waiver of immunity the Deputy Public Prosecutor of the Ordinary Court of Vercelli concedes that it is not clear whether this parliamentary privilege should also apply in cases in which the Member of Parliament is the alleged victim of a crime; whereas he concludes, notwithstanding this, that the best interpretation of the domestic legislation is that this privilege should apply to Members of Parliament regardless of their procedural position; whereas he does not, however, submit any domestic case-law in support of his conclusion;

G.  whereas it is not for the European Parliament to interpret the domestic rules on the privileges and immunities of Members of Parliament; whereas it seems appropriate, however, to recall that the objective of Article 9 of Protocol No 7 on the Privileges and Immunities of the European Union is primarily to safeguard the independence of Members by ensuring that pressure, in the form of threats of arrest or legal proceedings, is not brought to bear on them during the sessions of the European Parliament; whereas in the present case it incontestably appears that no pressure has been brought to bear on the Member concerned, since the proceedings relate to alleged threats reported by the Member himself as the victim of threats made by telephone;

H.  whereas in the light of the above it would appear that it should not have been necessary for the Deputy Public Prosecutor of the Ordinary Court of Vercelli to request authorisation from the European Parliament to order the acquisition of the data concerning Gianluca Buonanno’s telephone traffic of 14 April 2015;

I.  whereas, notwithstanding the above, it seems appropriate for the sake of legal certainty to accede ad cautelam to the request for authorisation forwarded by the Deputy Public Prosecutor of the Ordinary Court of Vercelli;

1.  Decides to waive the immunity of Gianluca Buonanno;

2.  Instructs its President to forward this decision and the report of its committee responsible immediately to the Deputy Public Prosecutor of the Ordinary Court of Vercelli, Italy, and to Gianluca Buonnano.

• [1]  (Judgment of the Court of Justice of 12 May 1964, Wagner v Fohrmann and Krier, 101/63, ECLI:EU:C:1964:28; judgment of the Court of Justice of 10 July 1986, Wybot v Faure and others, 149/85, ECLI:EU:C:1986:310; judgment of the General Court of 15 October 2008, Mote v Parliament, T-345/05, ECLI:EU:T:2008:440; judgment of the Court of Justice of 21 October 2008, Marra v De Gregorio and Clemente, C‑200/07 and C-201/07, ECLI:EU:C:2008:579; judgment of the General Court of 19 March 2010, Gollnisch v Parliament, T-42/06, ECLI:EU:T:2010:102; judgment of the Court of Justice of 6 September 2011, Patriciello, C‑163/10, ECLI: EU:C:2011:543; judgment of the General Court of 17 January 2013, Gollnisch v Parliament, T-346/11 and T-347/11, ECLI:EU:T:2013:23.)
• [2]  Legge n. 140, disposizioni per l’attuazione dell’articolo 68 della Costituzione nonché in materia di processi penali nei confronti delle alte cariche dello Stato, of 20 June 2003 (GURI No 142, of 21 June 2003).

RESULT OF FINAL VOTE IN COMMITTEE RESPONSIBLE

Date adopted	23.5.2016
Result of final vote	+: –: 0:	9 0 0
Members present for the final vote	Marie-Christine Boutonnet, Jean-Marie Cavada, Kostas Chrysogonos, Mady Delvaux, Dietmar Köster, Gilles Lebreton, Evelyn Regner, Pavel Svoboda, Tadeusz Zwiefka