Avramopoulos intensifies pressure on New Democracy
Former EU Commissioner Dimitris Avramopoulos is appealing to the Supreme Court to annul a European arrest warrant, arguing it lacks essential legal details about alleged offenses.
Dimitris Avramopoulos is taking decisive legal action, refusing to accept the charges brought against him by the Belgian authorities. According to Dimokratia, the former EU Commissioner and New Democracy MP is choosing confrontation, appealing to the Supreme Court with the aim of annulling the issued European arrest warrant.
Avramopoulos’s Legal Strategy
The former Commissioner directly challenges the legality of the warrant, arguing that the document must include the absolutely essential elements required by European and Greek law. He claims that critical details are missing regarding the time, place, and circumstances of the acts attributed to him.
According to his defense position, these gaps do not constitute formal omissions, but substantial deficiencies that render the warrant legally flawed. Additionally, he points out that the national judicial decision or national warrant on which the issuance of the European arrest warrant was based is not specified, as explicitly required by the institutional framework.
New Evidence in the Case File
At the same time, the Belgian authorities are enriching the case file with new evidence, which they consider indicative of Avramopoulos’s involvement. Among these is his communication via WhatsApp with Eva Kaili in March 2020.
In the conversation, as reported by Dimokratia, the former Commissioner informs her that he is about to meet his successor, Migration Commissioner Ylva Johansson, while Kaili reminds him of the “Kuwait – Oman – Qatar package,” referring to the visa issue for the three countries. The dialogue, containing Greek and English words, is recorded by the Belgians as evidence connecting the political activity of that period with the pressures exerted by Gulf states for the abolition of visas.
At that time, Johansson is reported to have had conflicts with Emir Al Thani on this specific issue, although she herself had stated that her meeting with Avramopoulos was purely ceremonial.
The Political Dimension of the Issue
Avramopoulos insists that he has not committed any criminal act and that his involvement is unjustified. His appeal to the Supreme Court constitutes the first of a series of legal moves expected to follow, as he attempts to completely dismantle the indictment and prevent the activation of the warrant.
According to Dimokratia, the case is not limited to the legal level; it touches on the political as well, as the lifting of his immunity remains an open issue. Parliament’s Ethics Committee has other files that take precedence, which postpones developments until mid-July. The law provides for a three-month timeframe from the transmission of the case file.
The climate within New Democracy remains cold, with the Maximos Mansion avoiding any public support, leaving the former Commissioner to fight the battle alone. The case is now evolving into a complex political-judicial field, where Brussels, Athens, and European institutions are moving in parallel but not necessarily in coordination.
The only certainty is that the former Commissioner does not intend to let the case lead him to a Belgian prison. The coming period is expected to determine not only his legal position, but also his political future.
Source: Dimokratia
