Overview

• The Parliament’s Legal Affairs Committee rejected Hungary’s request in a secret, reportedly narrow vote, leaving Ilaria Salis’s parliamentary immunity in place.
• A plenary vote is scheduled for 7 October, and past practice indicates the full chamber typically upholds the committee’s recommendation.
• The Hungarian government denounced the decision, with spokesman Zoltan Kovacs calling Salis a dangerous criminal and accusing MEPs of shielding extremism.
• Salis hailed the outcome as a rule-of-law safeguard and said she wants any case heard in Italy rather than in what she describes as political justice in Hungary.
• Political groups split over the case, with Social Democrats, the Left, Greens and Liberals opposing the lift while Conservatives and far-right members backed Hungary’s bid, as prosecutors accuse Salis over violent 2023 Budapest attacks after which she spent 15 months in pretrial detention.