Request for the waiver of immunity of Nikos Pappas

The European Parliament decided to waive the immunity of Nikos Pappas.

By letter dated 10 September 2025, the General Prosecutor’s Office of the Supreme Court of the Hellenic Republic transmitted a request from the Prosecutor at the Athens Court of First Instance for the waiver of the immunity of Nikos Pappas, Member of the European Parliament elected in the Hellenic Republic, in connection with alleged acts of defamation and insult, constituting offences under Article 361(1) and Article 363 of the Greek Criminal Code – criminal acts amounting to a misdemeanour.

According to the request, the complaint indicates that in the context of an interview for an online show, Nikos Pappas allegedly made, before third parties, false and defamatory claims about a journalist, insulting his honour intentionally. Nikos Pappas is alleged to have perpetrated these offences in Athens on 20 March 2024.

Nikos Pappas was elected to the European Parliament in the European elections of June 2024 and was not a Member of the European Parliament at the time of the alleged offences. The complaint against him dates from 10 June 2024.

Parliament considers that the alleged offence does not constitute an opinion or vote cast by Nikos Pappas in the exercise of his official duties within the meaning of Article 8 of Protocol No. 7 on the privileges and immunities of the European Union. Furthermore, it found no evidence to suggest that the intention underlying the legal proceedings in question is to undermine Nikos Pappas’s political activity as a Member of the European Parliament.