There has been a very intense background in the last few hours, with two cases of ill-treatment of former colleagues of Alexis Georgoulis coming to the surface, with one of them appearing to be very close to making an official complaint, after Eleni Chronopoulou, according to the SKAI correspondent in Brussels Efi Koutsokosta. The information states that a woman was harassed by the MEP, while a man suffered abusive behavior.

A new complaint is expected, but the girl is afraid of publicity

It is about a girl who worked as an intern in the office of Mr. Georgoulis some years ago, almost at the beginning of his term, she had come from Thessaloniki, and who stayed in his office for less than a year. The girl is alleged (end of 2019 – beginning of 2020) according to the complaint she made at the time to the competent bodies of the European Parliament to had been sexually harassed by Mr. Georgoulis outside the European Parliament in some other place, and physical violence by him. It is alleged that she had gone to the competent services of the European Parliament, however the matter did not progress, and she did not proceed with an official complaint to the police authorities.

According to the latest information, she is said to have already contacted two lawyers in Greece in order to see what she can do and if she herself can file an official complaint. She is however terrified, from the fact that there is a lot of publicity with the case of the first complainant, Eleni Chronopoulou, whose personal information was leaked, something she fears will happen to her. It remains to be seen whether he will make the official complaint in the next few hours or not.

Complaint to the European services and from a partner

But a former colleague of Alexis Georgoulis also suffered abuse behavior according to the report of Evi Koutsokosta. He worked for a long time in the office of Mr. Georgoulis, and had reported abusive behavior and even bullying by the former SYRIZA MEP. He had also reported the specific case to the relevant agencies, which was filed. And he left the office of Mr. Georgoulis, and with a long sick leave.

In general, over the years the MEP had changed many associates, many have left, and because they were unhappy, but also because the MEP himself chose to hire interns with very short-term contracts, which had caused disturbances.

Georgoulis wants to see the prosecutor

Mr. Georgoulis has hired a Greek and two Belgian lawyers to handle the case. He is expected in the next few days, very soon, to come to Brussels, he has issued an announcement showing the defensive line he will follow. His lawyers are waiting to receive the case file to see exactly what it includes, what are the charges against him.

He wants to see the prosecutor on the case. However, it is not certain that even if he asks to see the prosecutor, this will happen. In the Qatargate case, before the lifting of his immunity, the Belgian MEP Marc Tarabella had asked to see the prosecutor, who did not accept him. And this, because for the Belgian authorities, the investigation has been completed and all that remains is to lift the European parliamentary immunity of Mr. Georgoulis and to institute criminal proceedings.

According to Belgian lawyers, the maximum sentence that Mr. Georgoulis can face if the charges are confirmed and he is convicted of these serious crimes, i.e. rape and causing bodily harm, is imprisonment for up to 10 yearsyah and those sentences are served in Belgium.

Confidential information

For his part, Mr. Papadimoulis, as he himself confirmed, had heard some rumors a year or two ago about a case of sexual harassment for Mr.
Georgoulis. He called him and got the explanations he got, Mr. Georgoulis himself denied them. Mr. Papadimoulis had been trying to find some more information through the competent services, however all information is confidential for these complaints.

“Open secret”

There was however an issue for a period in relation to such matters or the bad relations he might have had with some of his associates. There was a surrounding atmosphere, which had nothing to do with the first complainant, Ms. Chronopoulou, but with matters related to the environment in the European Parliament.

Immunity waiver procedures

The request of the Belgian authorities received by the President of the European Parliament, Roberta Metzola, must be referred to the competent committee of legal affairs of the parliament, which is scheduled to meet next week, 24 and 25 April. Today, however, it became known that the issue of lifting the immunity of Mr. Georgoulis, not on the agenda. Next week a meeting will be held in order to designate the coordinators for the specific file and at a later stage Mr. Georgoulis will be invited to speak to the competent committee and also to vote on whether or not to lift the immunity. The committee members should give their opinion. The committee’s next meeting is on May 30, though an extraordinary meeting should not be ruled out if this is requested for the specific matter. Then the Plenary will have to be convened, it is however not certain whether the issue will be in the next Plenary, this is up to the internal procedures of the European Parliament. After the completion of the procedure, the prosecutor’s hands will be untied and the matter will go to court.