Member of the European Parliament Sarkozy, former Deputy PM of the United Kingdom Nick Clegg, former Prime Minister of Italy Silvio Berlusconi, Danish Prime Minister Helle Thorning-Schmidt, Belgian PM Elio Di Rupo. The so-called "dual mandate", in which an individual is a member of both his or her national parliament and the European Parliament, was officially discouraged by a growing number of political parties and Member States, and is prohibited as of 2009. In the 2004–2009 Parliament, a small number of members still held a dual mandate. Notably, Ian Paisley and John Hume once held "triple mandates" as MEP, MP in the House of Commons,
Death and funeral of Helmut Kohl controversial second wife Maike Kohl-Richter however insisted on a burial in a separate tomb in Speyer. After the Church had turned down her request to bury Kohl inside the Speyer Cathedral alongside several Holy Roman Emperors, she decided on a burial in the nearby Old Cemetery. Controversy was caused when Helmut Kohl's controversial new wife Maike Kohl-Richter (formerly Richter) prevented Kohl's children and grandchildren from paying their respects to their deceased father and grandfather. In a statement to the media, Kohl's son Walter Kohl accused her of "tasteless behaviour." Maike Richter was also criticized for attempting to take full control