Request to defend the parliamentary immunity of Mr. Janis Sakellariou

 The committee adopted the report by Klaus-Heiner LEHNE (EPP-ED, DE) recommending that Parliament should defend the immunity and privileges of Mr Jannis SAKELLARIOU, a former Member of the European Parliament. The case relates to a civil action brought against Mr Sakellariou in Greece because of statements he made in a newspaper interview in 2001 when he was still an MEP. In 2003 the European Parliament decided to defend Mr Sakellariou's immunity, following which the plaintiff discontinued the proceedings. Now that Mr Sakellariou is no longer a Member of the European Parliament, the plaintiff has revived the proceedings. The committee concluded that the statements made by Mr Sakellariou were carried out in the performance of his political duties and that his parliamentary immunity should therefore be upheld.