Wednesday

22nd Mar 2023

Jailed Greek neo-Nazi MEP has immunity lifted for second time

  • Greek Golden Dawn co-leader and MEP Ioannis Lagos was arrested in Belgium in 2021 (Photo: Wikipedia)
Listen to article

Jailed Greek neo-Nazi MEP Ioannis Lagos, who continues to draw a European Parliament salary, had his parliamentary immunity lifted for a second time.

The waiver, voted through on Tuesday (14 March) by a show of hands among MEPs sitting in the Strasbourg plenary, comes over a year after the Greek prosecutor first made the request in order to launch criminal proceedings against him for racist tweets.

Read and decide

Join EUobserver today

Become an expert on Europe

Get instant access to all articles — and 20 years of archives. 14-day free trial.

... or subscribe as a group

The lengthy delays echo similar procedural headaches among the European Parliament's legal affairs committee Juri, and Greek authorities, after Lagos had his immunity lifted for the first time in 2021 in order to serve a prison term.

At that time, Juri cited a backlog of immunity cases for the delay, on top of a 2,000 page document from the Greek authorities that needed to be translated by the European Parliament services. That delay meant his immunity protected him from being arrested.

Similar administrative and technical issues have also slowed down the latest request.

Lagos is entitled to hold a hearing to present his case with Juri before the committee can pass on the report to waive immunity to the plenary.

But organising a remote hearing from a prison cell compounded those delays and the hearing was only held in January of this year.

As a leader of the now defunct extreme rightwing Golden Dawn party, Lagos was extradited from Brussels to Greece in May 2021 after being sentenced to 13 years prison the previous year for belonging to a criminal organisation.

Prior to his extradition and during his time in Brussels, Lagos had complained about not being able to cash in on his daily European Parliament allowance of €323 due to restrictions imposed by the Covid pandemic.

Like all sitting MEPs, he currently draws a monthly gross salary of almost €10,000 and will be entitled to a pension when he turns 63.

Despite being in jail, the 50-year old continues to be relatively active as an MEP, sits on two European Parliament committees, has an office in Brussels and in Strasbourg, as well as two accredited assistants to do his bidding.

Only earlier this month, he submitted a written question on Israel to the European Commission. He hasn't cast a vote in the plenary since March last year, when he was one of three MEPs that opposed condemning Russia's war against Ukraine.

"The continued presence of a jailed, outspoken neo-nazi in the European Parliament ranks, remains, a stain on European democracy," said Greek left MEP, Kostas Arvanitis, in an emailed statement.

For its part, the European Parliament says its up to Greek national authorities to strip Lagos of his MEP mandate.

"National legislation in Greece doesn't lead to him losing his mandate," said a European Parliament spokesperson.

She said not all EU states are the same, noting that a serious offence in some would see the MEP stripped of his or her mandate.

A decision to lift immunity must be made for each charge. There have been four requests made for Lagos, of which two were passed.

The committee MEPs opposed lifting his immunity after he made xenophobic comments on migrants in Moria during a plenary debate.

They had also refused to waive it after he ripped up a Turkish flag because "his actions were made in the context of his duties as a member of and his work at the European Parliament."

Exclusive

Greek Nazi MEP upset he won't get EU parliament stipend

The EU Parliament suspended MEPs' €323 daily allowance due to the Brussels pandemic. But neo-Nazi MEP Ioannis Lagos finds that unfair and wants parliament to create "a central register in a Covid-19-free place" so he can still pocket the funds.

Arrested neo-Nazi Greek MEP will keep salary for now

Greek neo-Nazi MEP Ioannis Lagos was arrested and detained by Belgian police on Tuesday, after his immunity was lifted. The European Parliament says Lagos will continue to receive his salary until the Greek state terminates his mandate.

Investigation

EU money used by neo-Nazi to promote Holocaust denial

A prominent Holocaust-denier has made the cover of an EU-funded newsletter, which was published by an avowed German neo-Nazi with a lengthy criminal record. The lack of clear labelling of the MEP behind it violates European Parliament rules.

Opinion

Why can't we stop marches glorifying Nazism on EU streets?

Every year, neo-Nazis come together to pay tribute to Nazi war criminals and their collaborators, from Benito Mussolini to Rudolf Hess, Ante Pavelić, Hristo Lukov, and of course Adolf Hitler, in events that have become rituals on the extreme-right calendar.

Opinion

Turkey's election — the Erdoğan vs Kılıçdaroğlu showdown

Turkey goes to the polls in May for both a new parliament and new president, after incumbent Recep Tayyip Erdoğan decided against a post-earthquake postponement. The parliamentary outcome is easy to predict — the presidential one less so.

Opinion

When geopolitics trump human rights, we are all losers

The EU must back the UN's Human Rights 75 initiative at the end of the year to rekindle the spirit of the original declaration made in 1948 — and also demand a similar recommitment from all its 27 members.

Latest News

  1. EU Parliament joins court case against Hungary's anti-LGBTI law
  2. Three French MEPs to stay on election-observation blacklist
  3. Turkey's election — the Erdoğan vs Kılıçdaroğlu showdown
  4. When geopolitics trump human rights, we are all losers
  5. EU starts talks on 11th round of Russia sanctions
  6. EU fears Tunisia turmoil will spark migrant boat departures
  7. 'Symbolic' Putin indictment gets some EU backing
  8. 'Final warning' to act on climate change, warns IPCC

Stakeholders' Highlights

  1. Nordic Council of MinistersNordic and Baltic ways to prevent gender-based violence
  2. Nordic Council of MinistersCSW67: Economic gender equality now! Nordic ways to close the pension gap
  3. Nordic Council of MinistersCSW67: Pushing back the push-back - Nordic solutions to online gender-based violence
  4. Nordic Council of MinistersCSW67: The Nordics are ready to push for gender equality
  5. Promote UkraineInvitation to the National Demonstration in solidarity with Ukraine on 25.02.2023
  6. Azerbaijan Embassy9th Southern Gas Corridor Advisory Council Ministerial Meeting and 1st Green Energy Advisory Council Ministerial Meeting

Join EUobserver

Support quality EU news

Join us