Greek parliament lifts immunity of 13 MPs accused of involvement in EU agriculture funds scandal following a request by the European Public Prosecutor’s Office.
Eleni Stamatoukou
The Greek parliament on Wednesday voted to lift the immunity of 13 MPs from the ruling New Democracy party who are alleged to have been involved in a scandal involving EU agricultural funds.
Two MPs, Katerina Papakosta and Kostas Karamanlis, will be investigated for the alleged felony of moral instigation against the financial interests of the EU. Nine MPs – Ioannis Kefalogiannis, Notis Mitarachi, Kostas Tsiaras, Kostas Skrekas, Dimitris Vartzopoulos, Maximos Senetakis, Lakis Vasileiadis, Christos Boukoros and Theofilos Leontaridis – will be investigated for the same alleged offence, but as a misdemeanour.
The two other MPs, Charalampos Athanasiou and Tasos Hatzivasileiou, will be investigated for the alleged misdemeanour of incitement to breach of duty.
The lifting of the MPs’ immunity followed a request from the European Public Prosecutor’s Office, EPPO, which wants to investigate them. Their names appear in two case files in relation to alleged involvement in the misuse of EU agriculture subsidies by the Greek Payment and Control Agency for Guidance and Guarantee Community Aid, OPEKEPE, in 2021.
The parliament’s Ethics Committee had earlier voted in favour of recommending the lifting of the MPs’ immunity.
In a roll-call electronic vote in Wednesday’s plenary session, most of the 288 MPs present voted in favor of lifting the immunity.
Most of the 13 MPs in question had themselves requested the lifting of their own immunity, saying they wish to clear their names. Maintaining their innocence, they say they did not bribe anyone but acted appropriately in their role as MPs to facilitate requests for citizens in need.
“The role of an MP is not limited to the halls of parliament,” Mitarachi told MPs during the parliamentary session. “Political activity is a broader concept and the transmission of correspondence, conveying citizens’ petitions and requests, is political activity. We are not talking about bribery here but about the transmission of a citizen’s request … The MP is the first advocate of the citizen.”
Panagiotis Doudonis, parliamentary spokesperson for the leading opposition party, PASOK, told the session that statements by the New Democracy MPs amounted to a “militant defence of parliamentary interventions of so-called ‘gratuities’”.
The MPs whose immunity was lifted include three former senior officials in the Greek government – Climate Crisis Minister Ioannis Kefalogiannis, Rural Development Minister Kostas Tsiaras and Deputy Health Minister Dimitris Vartzopoulos – who announced their resignations on April 3.
All the MPs deny any wrongdoing.
EPPO has several ongoing investigations into an alleged organised fraud scheme involving Greek public officials.
