Ilaria Salis ready to accept candidacy in European elections with the Greens and Left Alliance

Brussels – The impasse over the court case of Ilaria Salis, the Italian teacher and activist jailed for 13 months in Hungary, is at a turning point. According to a report from Il Foglio, the 39-year-old from Monza is ready to accept a candidacy in the European elections with the Greens and Left Alliance, so as to benefit—should she win a seat in Brussels—from parliamentary immunity and thus obtain release from prison.

For Salis, accused by Hungarian authorities of injuries against two far-right militants, the position of leading candidate in the Northwest would be ready. As Sinistra Italiana sources explain to Il Foglio, it will be the Italian diplomatic corps that will authenticate her signature necessary to formalize her candidacy for the elections to be held June 6-9. The bureaucratic procedures were reportedly “already started in recent days and will be concluded this afternoon.”

The case came to public attention last January 29, when the Italian activist appeared in the courtroom in Budapest in chains, with cuffs on her wrists and ankles, held between agents in bulletproof vests and balaclavas and with a chain tied around her waist. The European Parliament debated this during its February plenary session, during which the Democratic Party delegation (secretary Elly Schlein was also present for the occasion) had staged a flashmob to call for her release. The signs displayed by the PD MEPs read “Chains are not worthy of Europe. Let’s bring Ilaria Salis home!” At first, the Democratic Party itself had speculated about including Salis in its lists, but on the sidelines of a meeting with Schlein last April 3, the prisoner’s father, Roberto Salis, expressed strong doubts about his daughter’s intention to run within the ranks of the PD. The ploy for her release is nothing new in the history of the European Parliament: it happened, for example, to Enzo Tortora, who in March 1984 was a candidate—and was later elected—on the lists of the Radical Party while under house arrest, and more recently to Carles Puigdemont, Antoni Comin and Clara Ponsatì, the three Catalan independence accused in Spain of rebellion, sedition, and embezzlement.

However, even if Ilaria Salis accepted the candidacy and was then elected to the European Parliament, it is not certain that she would be eligible for immunity, nor would she be automatically freed. If the Hungarian authorities did not want to release her, they could, in any case, submit a request to the EU Parliament to waive her immunity. Not only that,  this immunity would not in itself imply her release: the case of her release is not part of a common procedure and any final decision – according to LaPresse‘s report – would be based on the case law of the European Court of Justice.

How the procedure for waiving parliamentary immunity works

In general, to trigger the procedure for waiver of immunity, a request must be made by a competent national authority and addressed to the European Parliament. At that point, the President of the Parliament announces the request in the House and refers it to the relevant parliamentary committee, the Committee on Legal Affairs. The Commitee may request such information or explanations as it deems necessary from the national authorities and gives the member concerned an opportunity to be heard and to submit documents or other written evidence.

The Legal Affairs Committee shall, in closed session, adopt and submit to the parliament a recommendation to approve or reject the request to waive or defend immunity. At the plenary session following the committee’s decision, the MEPs shall adopt a decision by a simple majority. Following the vote, the chairperson shall immediately communicate the European Parliament’s decision to the member concerned and to the competent authority of the Member State in question.