What changed between the plenary report and the adopted text

Changed:A. whereas on 18 March 2026, the criminal investigative judge in Almada, Portugal, belonging to the District Court of Lisbon, submitted a request for the waiver of the immunity of Francisco José Pereira de Assis de Miranda (‘Francisco Assis’),Assis, Member of the European Parliament elected in Portugal, in connection with an alleged offence that took place in 2022;

Changed:B. whereas, according to the request, an investigation was initiated following a complaint lodged by a plaintiff alleging that, on 31 March 2022, Francisco Assis, in his capacity as President of the Economic and Social Council of Portugal, allegedly issued a press release in which he maintained that the complainant’s continued presence of the complainant at the Presidency of the Council of Ministers of Portugal degradesdegraded the country and flatlywas contradictscontrary theto Government’sthe political position onof the barbaricGovernment of Portugal on the Russian invasion of the sovereign state of Ukraine; whereas Francisco Assis allegedly described the complainant as a ‘collaborator with the autocratic and criminal power installed in the Kremlin’ and asserted that it was ‘imperative, in the interests of national dignity and respect for the martyred Ukrainian people, that measures be taken to address this serious institutional anomaly’; whereas, according to the request, the alleged actionsacts might constitute an offence of aggravated defamation under Article 180(1) of the Portuguese Criminal Code, in conjunction with Article 132(2), point l, and Article 184 thereof; whereas after duly examining the case, the Public Prosecutor’s Office closed the preliminary investigation considering that no offence had been committed by Francisco Assis,Assis as the statements in the press release were made in the context of the right to freedom of expression; whereas it is further noted in the request that both the complainant and Francisco Assis are public figures,figures as they both hold public office as part of Portuguese political life, and, consequently, that they must necessarily be more resilient to criticism; whereas after having been notified of the order to close the case, the complainant requested the nullity of that order and the opening of a pretrial investigation, which would require the waiver of the immunity of Francisco Assis,Assis and is thus the basis for the request received in this regard;

Changed:E. whereas Francisco Assis was elected to the European Parliament in the European elections in June 2024 European elections and was, therefore, not a Member of the European Parliament at the time of the alleged offence;

Changed:J. whereas the request specifically indicates that the initial assessment by the Public Prosecutor’s Office was that the statements of Francisco Assis, in his capacity as President of the Economic and Social Council of Portugal, were made in the context of his right to freedom of expression, a fundamental right constitutionally enshrined in Article 37 of the Constitution of the Portuguese Republic, and whereas the merits of the case are to be determined by the Portuguese judicial authorities in accordance with national law;

Changed:K. whereas, in this case, Parliament has found no evidence of fumus persecutionis, that is to say it does not appear that the intention underlying the legal proceedings is to damage theFrancisco Assis’ political activity of Francisco Assis as a Member of the European Parliament and thus Parliament’s independence;