The European Commission said on Wednesday 21 November that it would write to former EU Commissioner Dimítris Avramópoulos to ask him to clarify how he represented Fight Impunity when the two-year cooling-off period that he was subject to following the end of his mandate had not expired (see EUROPE 13087/16).
In the letter, the EU institution will also ask Avramópoulos for details on how he complied with “the restrictions” imposed on him when he was allowed to work with the association at the centre of a corruption scandal in the European Parliament, according to its spokesman Eric Mamer.
In particular, the former Commissioner was not permitted to contact the Commission on behalf of the NGO before the end of the cooling-off period.
According to Mamer, Avramópoulos paid “brief courtesy calls” in mid-November 2021 “at least” to Commissioners already in the Juncker Commission, to his successor in the Home Affairs portfolio, Ylva Johansson, and to a long-time acquaintance - his compatriot Stella Kyriakides. He also met privately with former colleagues when they were in Greece.
“At no time during these meetings did he represent the NGO” in question or discuss matters related to his activities for that organisation, Mamer said.
On Wednesday, the European Commission also announced that it had suspended until further notice all payments to No Peace Without Justice - an organisation older than Fight Impunity, but located in the same Brussels offices - which may have played a role in the case. No Peace Without Justice’s entry in the European Transparency Register was suspended, while Fight Impunity was never entered in the register, a shortcoming that its leaders promised to remedy, but which the Commission failed to verify. (Original version in French by Mathieu Bion)