The Court of Justice of the European Union on Wednesday annulled a European Parliament decision to deny access to documents relating to funds the latter provided to Ioannis Lagos.
Lagos, who has been jailed for participation in the criminal organization Golden Dawn, was elected to the European Parliament under that former party and later became independent.
In its decision, the General Court said it “annuls the European Parliament’s decision of April 8, 2022, in so far as it refuses the citizens concerned access, on the one hand, to documents relating to reimbursements of travel expenses and subsistence allowances paid by the Parliament to Mr Lagos and, on the other hand, to documents relating to reimbursements of travel expenses paid to his parliamentary assistants.”
It added that “even if the legitimate interest in protecting the privacy and integrity of the individual is affected, priority must be given to the public’s right of access to the institutions’ documents.”
On December 7, 2021, three citizens – Luisa Izuzquiza, Arne Semsrott and Stefan Wehrmeyer – sent the Parliament a request for access to documents related to the allowances and expenses granted to Lagos. They sought information that would allow them to ascertain the actual amounts allocated by the Parliament to Lagos and to understand whether those sums, including those relating to his parliamentary assistance expenses, had contributed, directly or indirectly, to the financing or perpetuation of criminal or unlawful activities. Following the Parliament’s refusal to provide the available documents, the three appealed to the Court of Justice.
“Despite his conviction for having committed serious crimes and even after his arrest and imprisonment,” the Court said, Lagos “remained a Member of the European Parliament and therefore continued to receive allowances corresponding to the exercise of those duties. In that context, the fact that the citizens may seek to ascertain for what purpose and to which places Lagos and his parliamentary assistants made journeys during a period in which Mr Lagos had already been convicted but not yet imprisoned and which were reimbursed by the Parliament must be regarded as legitimate.”
On the other hand, the General Court rejected the request related to documents containing personal data relating to Lagos’ salary and general expenditure allowance and the salary of his parliamentary assistants. “Information on the amounts paid in this respect is freely accessible to the public, in particular on the European Parliament website. Unlike documents relating to travel reimbursements and subsistence allowances, documents relating to salary and expenditure allowances allow no control over the use made of those sums, given that they are paid automatically or as a lump sum,” the Court’s brief said.
In summing up his case, the Court of Justice of the EU said that Lagos assumed office as member of the European Parliament on July 2, 2019. On October 7, 2020, the Athens Court of Appeals sentenced him to 13 years and 8 months in jail and to the payment of a fine “in particular for membership and leadership of a criminal organisation.” On April 27, 2021, the European Parliament waived his immunity at the request of the Greek authorities. “Despite his criminal conviction, the waiver of his immunity and his imprisonment, Mr Lagos did not resign from his mandate as a Member of the European Parliament.
His conviction did not give rise to any communication from the Greek authorities to the Parliament concerning the withdrawal of his mandate,” the Court said.
