The European Parliament,

–  having regard to the request for waiver of the immunity of Georgios Kyrtsos, forwarded on 27 February 2018 by the Deputy Prosecutor General of the Supreme Court of the Hellenic Republic, for non-payment of an Easter bonus of EUR 986,46 (file No AVM O 2017/6101), and announced in plenary on 14 March 2018,

–  having heard Georgios Kyrtsos in accordance with Rule 9(6) of its Rules of Procedure,

–  having regard to Articles 8 and 9 of Protocol No 7 on the Privileges and Immunities of the European Union, and to Article 6(2) of the Act of 20 September 1976 concerning the election of the members of the European Parliament by direct universal suffrage,

–  having regard to the judgments of the Court of Justice of the European Union of 12 May 1964, 10 July 1986, 15 and 21 October 2008, 19 March 2010, 6 September 2011 and 17 January 2013(1),

–  having regard to Article 62 of the Constitution of the Hellenic Republic,

–  having regard to Rule 5(2), Rule 6(1) and Rule 9 of its Rules of Procedure,

–  having regard to the report of the Committee on Legal Affairs (A8-0351/2018),

A.  whereas the Prosecutor’s Office of the Supreme Court of the Hellenic Republic has requested the waiver of the immunity of Georgios Kyrtsos, Member of the European Parliament, in connection with possible legal action concerning an alleged offence;

B.  whereas Article 9 of Protocol No 7 on the Privileges and Immunities of the European Union states that Members of the European Parliament enjoy, in the territory of their own State, the immunities accorded to members of the parliament of that State;

C.  whereas Article 62 of the Constitution of the Hellenic Republic provides that, during their parliamentary term, members of parliament may not be prosecuted, arrested, imprisoned or otherwise confined without prior leave granted by parliament;

D.  whereas Georgios Kyrtsos, as legal representative (chairman and chief executive officer) of the companies KMP Publishing House Ltd and Free Sunday Publishing House Ltd, hired his former employee on 26 July 2005 in the name of KMP Publishing House Ltd under a contract for employment in both companies as art director;

E.  whereas Georgios Kyrtsos is accused of non-payment to his former employee of an Easter bonus of EUR 986,46 on 27 April 2016, in violation of Emergency Law No 690/1945, as replaced by Article 8(1) of Law 236/95, and constituting an offence under Article 28 of Law No 3996/2011, in conjunction with Joint Ministerial Decision 19040/1981;

F.  whereas the alleged offence clearly has no direct link with the office of Georgios Kyrtsos as a Member of the European Parliament but is instead connected to his former position as manager of two newspaper firms;

G.  whereas the prosecution does not concern opinions expressed or votes cast in the performance of the duties of the Member of the European Parliament in question for the purposes of Article 8 of Protocol No 7 on the Privileges and Immunities of the European Union;

H.  whereas there is no reason to suspect that the intention underlying criminal proceedings is to damage a Member’s political activity (fumus persecutionis);

1.  Decides to waive the immunity of Georgios Kyrtsos;

2.  Instructs its President to forward this decision and the report of its committee responsible immediately to the Greek authorities and to Georgios Kyrtsos.

(1) Judgment of the Court of Justice of 12 May 1964, Wagner v Fohrmann and Krier, 101/63, ECLI:EU:C:1964:28; judgment of the Court of Justice of 10 July 1986, Wybot v Faure and others, 149/85, ECLI:EU:C:1986:310; judgment of the General Court of 15 October 2008, Mote v Parliament, T-345/05, ECLI:EU:T:2008:440; judgment of the Court of Justice of 21 October 2008, Marra v De Gregorio and Clemente, C-200/07 and C-201/07, ECLI:EU:C:2008:579; judgment of the General Court of 19 March 2010, Gollnisch v Parliament, T-42/06, ECLI:EU:T:2010:102; judgment of the Court of Justice of 6 September 2011, Patriciello, C-163/10, ECLI: EU:C:2011:543; judgment of the General Court of 17 January 2013, Gollnisch v Parliament, T-346/11 and T-347/11, ECLI:EU:T:2013:23.