BRUSSELS (Reuters) - French far-right leader Marine Le Pen could face charges over remarks comparing Muslims praying in the streets to the wartime Nazi occupation, after European lawmakers voted to strip her of parliamentary immunity. The French justice ministry asked the European Parliament last year to waive Le Pen's immunity over the comments, made at a rally in 2010 before she took over leadership of the National Front party founded by her father, Jean-Marie.

ROME (Reuters) - The European Central Bank and the European Investment Bank will likely present a plan to improve financing to small- and medium-sized companies before the next European Union summit, European Council President Herman Van Rompuy said on Friday. "I'm expecting a proposal before the June European Council meeting," Van Rompuy said in a press conference in Rome after meeting Italian Prime Minister Enrico Letta. Van Rompuy was responding to a question about what the central bank could do to help growth in the euro zone.

A lawmaker from Silvio Berlusconi's People of Freedom party said he was submitting a draft bill on Thursday to recognise same-sex unions, a day after France celebrated its first gay wedding. "We are very behind in terms of civil rights in Italy," the deputy, Giancarlo Galan, told AFP, saying it would apply the "same rules" as marriage. Under the proposed law "gay couples will have the same rights and duties as heterosexual ones," he said, particularly on inheritance and pensions.

By Steve Scherer and Naomi O'Leary ROME (Reuters) - The center-left candidate for Rome mayor in an election seen as a test of Italy's fragile coalition government was leading the field, projections showed on Monday, but the ballot is likely to go to a run-off next month. Ignazio Marino of the Democratic Party (PD) would get from 41 to 43 percent of the vote while his center-right rival, incumbent Gianni Alemanno of Silvio Berlusconi's center-right People of Freedom (PDL) party, was set to take 28-30 percent.