Request for the waiver of the immunity of Stelios Kouloglou

The Committee on Legal Affairs adopted the report by Pavel SVOBODA (EPP, CZ) and unanimously recommended that the European Parliament waive the immunity of Stelios KOULOGLOU (GUE/NGL, EL).

Members recalled that Stelios Kouloglou is accused of libel and defamation of prison staff in Patras. That accusation relates to statements which Stelios Kouloglou is claimed to have made to the press in 2010 about the probity of certain members of the prison staff in Patras, at a time when he was a journalist chiefly producing television reporting. Noting that the alleged offence clearly has nothing to do with the office of Stelios Kouloglou as a Member of the European Parliament but is rather connected to his former position as a television reporter, Members considered that the prosecution does not concern opinions expressed or votes cast in the performance of the duties of the Member of the European Parliament in question for the purposes of Article 8 of Protocol No 7 on the Privileges and Immunities of the European Union.

Consequently, the committee found that there is no reason to suspect that the intention underlying criminal proceedings is to damage a Member’s political activity (fumus persecutionis).

In the light of these considerations, the committee recommended that Parliament waive the immunity of Stelios Kouloglou.