Dimitris Avramopoulos immunity waiver: Unanimously approved by Parliament Ethics Committee
Greece's Ethics Committee unanimously recommended waiving immunity for MP Dimitris Avramopoulos facing Qatar corruption charges, with final approval due in September.
The final decision will be taken by the plenary session in September. This buys the MP significant time, as his appeal to the Greek judiciary against the arrest warrant issued by Belgian authorities remains pending.
Avramopoulos himself responded to the Committee with a memorandum. He explicitly requested the waiver of his immunity, stressing that he does not wish to use his parliamentary status to avoid judicial scrutiny. At the same time, he declared himself ready to appear before Belgian authorities, who had issued the arrest warrant precisely because he had not appeared in person when initially summoned.
In his memorandum, the MP expresses his desire to testify about what he knows, to answer every question, and to contribute to the full clarification of the case. As he notes, his failure to appear was not a choice to flee, but the result of legal assessment. “If I had followed my own preference at the time and had responded to the summons of 2025, I am convinced that I would have given all the explanations in a timely manner and things would have developed differently,” he writes characteristically.
Notably, Avramopoulos distances himself from the stance he initially adopted. In another part of the memorandum, he states that the approach was based on the legal assessment and strategy indicated to him by his legal advisors, with reference to the relationship of the summons to his parliamentary immunity regime.
As Newsbreak reports in its coverage, the immunity waiver is a procedural step and in no way prejudges guilt. The case will continue to be examined by the competent authorities.
