European Parliament votes to protect Peter Magyar’s and Ilaria Salis’ immunity

Published connected 23/09/2025 - 12:38 GMT+2 •Updated 12:44

The European Parliament’s Committee connected Legal Affairs (JURI) voted secretly connected Tuesday to support the parliamentary immunity of MEPs Peter Magyar, Ilaria Salis, and Klára Dobrev - each sought by Hungary’s judiciary for antithetic charges. 

By contrast, the committee voted to assistance the immunity of Polish MEPs Michał Dworczyk and Daniel Obajtek.

The last determination for each of the 5 MEPs volition present beryllium taken by a plenary league of the Parliament successful Strasbourg, slated for the 2nd week of October.

Peter Magyar’s lawsuit was controversial, arsenic 3 requests to assistance his immunity were issued by Hungarian authorities, 1 for alleged theft and 2 for defamation.

The archetypal related to allegations that Magyar threw a man's telephone into the Danube River aft arguing successful a Budapest nightclub with someone filming him. 

The rapporteur for this case, the Polish Socialist MEP Krzysztof Śmiszek, drafted a study suggesting the immunity beryllium protected, which was approved by the JURI Committee.

The different 2 reports, drafted by Polish Conservative MEP Dominik Tarczyński and French far-right MEP Pascale Piera, suggested lifting Magyar’s immunity, but the Committee disagreed.

Hungary’s Prime Minister Viktor Orbán has besides reacted to the vote. “Today successful Brussels it became wide that the person of the absorption is Brussels’ man. And helium wants to beryllium a politician present astatine home”, helium wrote successful a post connected Facebook.

According to aggregate sources from the Parliament, the tightest ballot related to the petition to assistance Ilaria Salis' immunity. An Italian lawmaker from The Left, Salis stands accused successful Hungary of battle and for beating 2 far-right militants.

“It was a precise bully signal... I americium precise faithful successful my colleagues for the Plenary’s vote,” MEP Salis told journalists aft the vote.

She said she doesn't privation to flight justice, but for her lawsuit to beryllium heard successful Italy, to debar what she considers “persecution” by the Hungarian authorities.

Rapporteur Adrián Vázquez Lázara, a Spanish European People’s Party MEP, recommended accepting the petition to assistance Salis’ immunity, but his chap MEPs voted to cull the report. 

The ballot was held successful secret, and the effect was not revealed, but respective sources told Euronews that Salis' immunity was preserved by 13 votes to 12.

“It was a governmental decision, not based connected the Parliament’s rules,” Vázquez Lázara told Euronews aft the vote, adding: “If the request to assistance immunity is yet rejected, Hungarian authorities whitethorn person recourse to the EU Court of Justice, and they would astir apt win."

Reports recommending waiver of the immunity of Conservative Polish MEPs Michał Dworczyk and Daniel Obajtek, some penned by French Green MEP David Cormand, were approved, according to respective sources from the JURI Committee.