By Antonis Anzoletou

The presumption of innocence for him Alexis Georgoulis it is fully valid and no one can dispute it. The former member of the SYRIZA Eurogroup does not accept the allegations of rape and with his announcement made it clear about the way he will proceed from now on, denying all the accusations. He requested the lifting of his immunity. What became known a few hours after Roberta Metzola’s announcements, is that some whispers about an incident of harassment had been heard some time before about the MEP. These rumors had led Dimitris Papadimoulis, as head of the Eurogroup, to call him to his office so that the necessary explanations could be given. The party also addressed the competent services of the European Parliament, but it was not established that any complaint had been made. There was nothing concrete, no evidence appeared to point to today’s case. After Mr. Georgoulis’ statement that there is no incident of harassment concerning him, the matter was considered over.

This specific case “exploded” during the pre-election period and it is normal for there to be suspicion between the parties. From SYRIZA, they asked Alexis Georgoulis to surrender his seat to the party, in addition to his removal from the Eurogroup. The reports from Brussels indicate that the complaint had been made by name since May 2020 and that the re-examination of the file that had to be done perhaps and the pandemic pushed the investigations further back. The complainant, a PASOK executive, a lawyer by profession and an employee of the European Commission, had kept the complaint she had made a secret. She revealed the whole story with her facebook post.

The MEPs

There is no magic recipe for choosing MEPs. Nor can anyone claim that the “list” system in place before the 2014 European elections was infallible. Just as with the vote per territory, it is not the leader who decides on the representatives he will send to Brussels and Strasbourg, but the voters of the respective party. Several times, however, it has been brought to the table how much the “star system” and the current electoral system favors the already known persons, leaving “outside” of Brussels competent party officials who have either proven their worth or have dealt with European issues for years. In short, the selection of candidates based on popularity and not on policy ultimately backfires on the party. Mr. Georgoulis’s participation in TV games, when he started his career in the European Parliament, did not go down well in Koumoundourou, not even when, through social media, at the beginning of his term, he invited people to participate in a trip that would include a tour of European Parliament. Of course making use of the right given to him by Brussels.

Several times during the period of New Democracy’s governance, the debate was opened on the restoration of the list in the European elections, without, however, any legislative initiative ever proceeding. Much has also been made of the pay of MEPs during their five-year term in Brussels. The amounts that are heard may not have anything to do with reality, however it is true that their salaries are good including the compensation they receive when a term is completed. Certainly a second re-election can ensure an MEP a comfortable living, as well as a satisfying pension from a certain age onwards.

Exactly one year from today, elections will be held across Europe to elect the new representatives to the European Parliament. It is a fact that the parties from 2019 until today had several complaints and had recorded “failures” from their current MEPs. These are cases completely different from that of Alexis Georgoulis, which nevertheless caused a stir within the political forces. In simple words, not everything went as expected in New Democracy, in SYRIZA and in PASOK. In the blue faction, they had a rift with Thodoris Zagorakis when he had threatened independence, right after the EEA proposed to expel PAOK and Xanthi from the league. He was led to an exit from the blue euro group and his rejoining took place a year later, in January 2021, after a meeting he had with the prime minister. Giorgos Kyrtsos’ fiery posts about the government’s politics led to his deletion in February 2022, and since then his relations with the blue faction have been at their worst. By decision of the Prime Minister, Maria Spyrakis was excluded from the ballots for the national elections after the financial irregularities of her partner who collected a foreigner’s allowance without being entitled to it.

In SYRIZA, dissatisfaction and crisis with Koumoundourou had been caused with Stelios Kouloglou when, after the TIF of 2021, he had estimated that Alexis Tsipras and Kyriakos Mitsotakis clashed in Thessaloniki without a winner. He had also criticized the press conference he gave with relations between the two sides being restored a short time later. Concerning the PASOK the case of Qatargate and Eva Kaili, with her pre-trial detention that ended a few days ago, is the “thorn” that Harilaou Trikoupi has to face, distancing herself from the beginning and asking to hand over her seat.