In his question to the Commission, Arvanitis specifically refers to statements by Health Minister and New Democracy vice-president Adonis Georgiadis about the European prosecutor: ‘It is not a serious institution… It is a simple law of the Greek state. Tomorrow we vote and that’s it’, ‘we do not owe any special respect to this institution… after all, the institution is immature to exist in European states… if we allow such political games, our democracies will be blown up’, ‘it is trying to destroy MPs… it has sent a case file to slander these people…’, and ‘it decided to send ridiculous case files, causing major political issues’.

Arvanitis asks the Commission how it intends in practice to protect the institution of the European Public Prosecutor’s Office and its officials from such attacks, and how it intends to strengthen the EPPO at staffing level.

The full text of Costas Arvanitis’ question follows:

Question for written answer
to the Commission
Rule 144 of the Rules of Procedure
Konstantinos Arvanitis (The Left)

Subject: Attacks against the European Public Prosecutor’s Office

On the occasion of the OPEKEPE case, officials of the Greek government and the ruling party are escalating their public attacks against the European Public Prosecutor’s Office, the Prosecutor General and the European Delegated Prosecutors. Particularly disparaging is the Health Minister and vice-president of New Democracy, who stated: ‘It is not a serious institution… It is a simple law of the Greek state. Tomorrow we vote and that’s it’, ‘we do not owe any special respect to this institution… after all, the institution is immature to exist in European states… if we allow such political games, our democracies will be blown up’, ‘it is trying to destroy MPs… it has sent a case file to slander these people…’, ‘it decided to send ridiculous case files, causing major political issues… If it continues to ignore the political implications of its actions, the institution will fail’, ‘it is obvious that something else is at play… there is no way that a single person will be indicted’, ‘the case files that have reached parliament […] are nonsense. It is a disgrace to the European Public Prosecutor’s Office that it sent them’, ‘the sending of this specific case file by Ms Papandreou is an attack on democracy’, ‘[Ms Papandreou] is blackmailing for the renewal of her term’, and ‘it is a legally non-existent case file’.

The Commission is asked:

How does it intend to protect the institution and its officials in practice from such attacks?

How does it intend to strengthen the European Public Prosecutor’s Office at staffing level?

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