Brok keeps immunity

Elmar Brok has recieved the support of his colleagues, and will not face prosecution for his 'tax mistake'.

Mr Brok maintains it was a one-off and he has already paid the €2,300 due six years ago.
"Our committee members voted unanimously, across the board, against lifting the immunity of Mr Brok," Klaus-Heiner Lehne, the chairman of the legal affairs committee told this website after the meeting which took place behind closed doors.

Interesting.

Mr Lehne said the case was "ridiculous" as it was a one-off blunder, not some kind of intentional tax evasion scheme. "I suspect they [the prosecutors] only did this because he is a public figure," Mr Lehne said in defence of his party colleague,

It rather sounds like the Burlesconi defence.
They claim that it is political. Hmm. Tax evasion? Political eh?

Well trying to find what Parliamentary immunity covers I find this, Protocol 36 in the Lisbon Treaty,

Article 9

Members of the European Parliament shall not be subject to any form of inquiry, detention or legal proceedings in respect of opinions expressed or votes cast by them in the performance of their duties.

I cannot believe that Mr Brok was dodging tax, whether accidentally or not, in the performance of his political duties. Looks like the Parliament is defending one of its own, a true believer, from the full force of the law.