EU Parliament shields Slovenian MEP Tonin from abuse-of-office probe

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BRUSSELS — The legal affairs committee in the European Parliament voted to shield Slovenian lawmaker Matej Tonin from prosecution in Ljubljana, according to three people familiar with the proceedings.

Slovenian lawmakers requested that Tonin’s parliamentary immunity be lifted in January to allow them to investigate allegations of abuse of office dating back to 2023, when Tonin served on the country’s parliamentary committee overseeing intelligence and security services, according to the legal affairs report seen by POLITICO.

The center-right European People’s Party — Tonin’s political family — along with the right-wing European Conservatives and Reformists and the far-right Patriots and Europe of Sovereign Nations groups voted on Wednesday to overturn the recommendation from the lead lawmaker on Tonin’s file to lift his immunity, the individuals, granted anonymity as they are not authorized to speak publicly on the matter, said.

Tonin has denied the allegations in comments to Slovenian media. The legal affairs committee “identified elements of political persecution” in the Slovenian authorities’ case, Tonin told POLITICO after the vote.

Slovenian prosecutors argue the lawmaker obtained information from the police on whether investigators had wiretapped several individuals linked to a bribery case, “not in the manner intended by law but rather with the intent of securing benefits for themselves and others.”

According to the legal affairs committee report, Tonin also tried to obtain information about pre-trial proceedings.

“The request to lift the immunity was baseless and unfounded,” said someone in the EPP familiar with the matter, granted anonymity to discuss the group’s confidential thinking. “Several political groups, including the EPP Group, identified chronological inconsistencies in the material submitted with the request. In light of these inconsistencies, it was considered appropriate not to recommend the waiver of immunity.”

Tonin said: “I am pleased that [the legal affairs committee] took sufficient time to carefully review the documentation submitted to the European Parliament by the Slovenian Specialized Prosecutor’s Office and then reached a final decision today.”

The decision not to lift the lawmaker’s immunity now needs to be ratified in the Parliament’s plenary in September by a simple majority of votes cast.