26/09/2006 (Agence Europe) - On Tuesday, the EP, in adopting the report by Klaus-Heiner Lehne (CDU), decided to support the immunity of former Greek Socialist MEP Jannis Sakellariou in a case that goes back to 2001 and has just come up again. At the time, Mr Sakellariou made controversial statements about the national Member of Parliament for Thessalonica, Stylianos Papathemelis, in an interview with a Greek newspaper (he said that Greco-Turkish relations could turn sour of a “local Mussolini like Mr Papathemelis is responsible for foreign policy”). Proceedings started after the publication of the article led Parliament to support Mr Sakellariou's immunity in September 2003. Mr Papathelelis, however, after seeming to give up his action, has just re-started proceedings, which will have to be abandoned definitively once the Greek court learns of the Parliamentary resolution, which notes that the statements that have been called into question were made by an MEP in the course of his duties.