Brussels – “We will not vote in favour of immunity for Ilaria Salis.” Daniel Köster, head of the European Press Department for the European People’s Party (EPP), did not mince his words and revealed the intentions of the populars in view of the decisive vote on Tuesday, 7 October at the Plenary Assembly in Strasbourg. The Italian MEP, elected on the Green and Left Alliance lists, will thus not be able to benefit from the 190 votes coming from the Popular Party ranks: a heavy defection for the maintenance of immunity and for the fate of Salis, accused in Hungary of aggression against neo-Nazi militants.
This is a slightly different position from the vote of 23 September, when the European Parliament’s Legal Affairs Committee voted to maintain Salis’ immunity by a single vote. The result had been 13 votes in favour and 12 for the waiver, the consequence, according to some reconstructions, of an internal split within the EPP.
The possible “Salis case”
Now the scenario could be reversed, with the Popular Party inclined not to confirm immunity. In this case, the Italian activist and MEP would have very little chance of avoiding trial in Hungary. She could only count on the votes of The Left, the Greens, Renew and S&D: insufficient for a majority in Parliament.
Also on the Italian front, the will of Forza Italia (part of the EPP group in the EU Parliament) was clarified by the spokesman Raffaele Nevi: “The FI line becomes the line of the European People’s Party,” adding that “we have always maintained that this is not a political affair, but judicial facts that must not be instrumentalised. Parliamentary immunity serves to protect parliamentarians in the performance of their mandate; we cannot turn it into a shield to avoid trials on facts that occurred before the election.”
With statements like these, it would seem easy to predict the fate of the AVS MEP. The reality, however, is more complex, because, as European Parliament spokesperson Delphine Colard reminded us today, “the vote for the motion will be secret.” This scenario could favour the actions of some rebels (mainly Italians) within the ranks of the European right, who are interested in avoiding a “Salis case” that could reawaken the Italian minority—a scenario already partly observed during the vote on 23 September.
The mirror vote
The political plot will be further enriched by another similar vote in plenary: the one on the immunity of MEP Peter Magyar.The Hungarian politician is the main opponent of President Viktor Orbán. In the 2024 elections, he was elected from the ranks of the populars thanks to votes cast for his Tisza party. In just a few years, Orbán’s former right-hand man was able to garner 30 per cent of the vote, proving to be the most reliable candidate to challenge the Magyar leader. The first useful window will be the parliamentary elections in April 2026.
The authorities in Budapest, to obstruct this race, presented three requests to lift his immunity during his European mandate: one for alleged theft and two for defamation. Brussels’ response was to present a united front in the Legal Affairs Commission (the same as Salis). On 23 September, the European Parliament voted to maintain his immunity, which will now have to be confirmed in Strasbourg.
The mirror vote for Salis and Magyar could open the way for political exchanges between the European groups, facilitated by the secret vote that would not embarrass the leaders. Certainly, Magyar has a better chance: the 190 EPP MEPs are inclined to confirm his immunity.
This was also reiterated by Daniel Köster, who drew a line between the two cases: “Ilaria Salis committed violent acts before her term of office (she is accused of assaulting three neo-Nazi militants during a counter demonstration at the “Day of Honour”, an extreme right-wing event, ed). Peter Magyar is the leader of the Hungarian opposition, and we are a couple of months away from national elections. For us, these are two completely different cases, and we will act differently.”
The Judgment of Budapest
In a still nebulous context, only one certainty remains: the Hungarian government’s will to strike at its opponents. Zoltán Kovács, spokesman for the Hungarian government, had responded to a social post by the Italian MEP indicating the coordinates of the Márianosztra prison. Meanwhile, Orbán has spoken publicly about the need to eliminate the “shadow army”—NGOs, media, journalists, activists—which he accuses of supporting foreign interests.
English version by the Translation Service of Withub
