“The European Parliament firmly rejects the visa ban imposed by the US authorities on former Commissioner Breton, which is solely motivated due to his role in the development and implementation of the Digital Services Act, a law proposed by the European Commission and adopted by the co-legislators to protect users online. This is an unacceptable personalisation of EU policy, a dangerous precedent for the independence of the European Institutions and an attack on the EU’s regulatory sovereignty.
In accordance with Articles 340 and 343 TFEU and Protocol No. 7, acts performed by members of the Commission in the exercise of their duties fall within the responsibility of the Union and enjoy functional protection, which the Commission is committed to guarantee, particularly in the face of foreign measures targeting former commissioners individually.
The European Parliament welcomes the Commission’s decision to grant legal and financial assistance to a former Commissioner and trusts that the Commission, in its capacity as guardian of the Treaties, will ensure functional protection and take all necessary diplomatic and political efforts to the US authorities to obtain the lifting of the visa ban on Thierry Breton.
The European Parliament and all other EU institutions should jointly ensure that similar attacks against current or former members of the EU institutions are met with a systematic and coordinated response”
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