EU parliament clashes over 'extra' MEP

The European Parliament has clashed with the Italian supreme court following a Thursday decision to refuse the mandate of an Italian MEP.

Meeting in Strasbourg, deputies in the parliament’s legal affairs committee voted Thursday to not recognise the mandate of liberal MEP Beniamino Donnici.

The lawmaker is now taking the matter to the European court of justice in Luxembourg, a parliamentary source told the Parliament.com.

Donnici took over the seat of olive tree coalition partner socialist MEP Achille Occhetto as part of a deal under which the latter would relinquish his seat to run for the Italian senate.

Failing his bid to Italy’s upper chamber, Occhetto claimed his MEP seat back but Donnici, already in Brussels, refused to step aside.

The two took the dispute to the Italian courts, with Rome ruling for Donnici in 2006.

“It’s a bizarre situation”, a parliamentary insider told the Parliament.com, “the (European) Parliament recognizes one member and the Italian state the other… Rome will not pay Occhetto’s salary and Brussels will not seat Donnici”.

Liberal group chief Graham Watson slammed the legal affairs committee’s decision, saying it created a “dangerous” precedent and will only feed a national politics dispute.

“(It has) sent a message to the public that MEPs consider themselves above the law", he said.

According to the 1976 European electoral act governing MEPs’ parliamentary privileges and immunities, the Parliament must “take note” of member states’ judiciaries decisions concerning MEP’s mandates.

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