European Parliament votes to lift the immunity of Greek MEPs Georgoulis and Spyraki

In a statement, Georgoulis' lawyer Stamatia Malla said that Georgoulis had personally proposed to the competent Belgian judicial authorities that he appear and provide explanations, but this was not possible as the process of waiving his immunity had not been concluded.

A plenary session of the European Parliament in Brussels voted earlier on Thursday in favour of lifting the immunity of Greek MEP Alexis Georgoulis. In a statement, Georgoulis’ lawyer Stamatia Malla said that Georgoulis had personally proposed to the competent Belgian judicial authorities that he appear and provide explanations, but this was not possible as the process of waiving his immunity had not been concluded.

At the same time, the plenary voted in favour of lifting the immunity of the MEP Maria Spyraki. On her part, Spyraki had said: “I did not ‘hide’ behind my immunity. Instead, in a letter to the chairman of the Legal Affairs Committee (JURI), I asked for my immunity to be lifted and the process to be expedited. I have never been accused of taking the remuneration of my assistants or the illegal disbursement of budget funds. I have no financial differences with the European Parliament. I have complete faith in Justice.”