BRUSSELS — The EU's top court on Wednesday annulled the finding of harassment and the sanction imposed by European Parliament President Roberta Metsola on former MEP Monica Semedo (Luxembourg/Renew Europe/) on the grounds that rights of defense were not respected.
Following a complaint by a former parliamentary assistant, the European Parliament's advisory committee adopted a report in November 2002 concluding that the alleged acts constituted psychological harassment.
Metsola sent Semedo an anonymized version of the report the following month for her feedback - but the former Luxembourg MEP contested this report and unsuccessfully requested access to the entire file.
In April 2023, the head of the European Parliament sanctioned Semedo for the second time during the 2019-2024 mandate for psychological harassment, and imposed a fine of €3,380, despite Semedo strongly denying any wrongdoing.
The General Court has now ruled that a person accused of harassment is entitled to a summary of the statements of witnesses heard during the investigation.
The EU's top court also said that the summary of witness statements sent to Semedo "did not reflect the substance of the testimony given during the investigation" and that such decisions were flawed by irregularities affecting Semedo's rights of defense.
The Court recalled that the failure of the Committee or the President of the Parliament to disclose documents in the file on which the authorities relied "inevitably affects" the legality of the measures adopted.
In January 2021, the Luxembourg politician was also suspended for 15 days following allegations of psychological harassment by three parliamentary assistants.
Following the decision, she resigned from Prime Minister Xavier Bettel's Democratic Party but remained an independent MEP in the parliament's Liberal group.
The European Parliament will have up to two months to decide whether to appeal the decision to the Court of Justice.
"The European Parliament took note of the ruling and is looking into it," its press service said. — Euronews
