\u201cFor 2\u20133 days, Mr. Chrysochoidis kept it in a drawer and didn\u2019t inform me; I don\u2019t know why\u2014that\u2019s his business.\u201d<\/i><\/b><\/p>\n
Dimitris Avramopoulos claimed in a television interview that he had approval from the European Commission for his participation in Fight Impunity, with a monthly salary of 5,000 euros, which he declared and paid taxes on in Greece, while emphasizing that he never promoted the interests of Qatar. <\/p>\n
Dimitris Avramopoulos<\/strong>, speaking on SKAI\u2019s program \u201cToday\u201d on SKAI, stated that former European Commissioners<\/strong> are required, for two years after the end of their term, to request permission for any professional activity they undertake. <\/p>\n As he said, he informed the European Commission<\/strong> in writing that he had been invited to participate in Fight Impunity<\/strong> and received a written response stating that he could do so. According to him, he requested further clarification on whether he could be compensated for his participation and received another affirmative response, while the \u201cgreen light\u201d was also given by the Ethics Committee<\/strong> of the European Commission. <\/p>\n<\/p>\n Avramopoulos: \u201cFor two years, Commissioners have been required to obtain the Commission\u2019s permission for anything they do. I send a letter saying, \u2018This was proposed to me.\u2019 The Commission investigates and gives me a written response saying, \u2018You\u2019re doing the right thing; it\u2019s a very good organization\u2014go ahead\u2026 pic.twitter.com\/VJH68j4bWK <\/p>\n \u2014 tomanifesto.gr (@tomanifesto) June 24, 2026 <\/p><\/blockquote>\n Mr. Avramopoulos claimed that he participated in Fight Impunity<\/strong> as an \u201chonorary member,\u201d without any executive powers. When asked about his compensation, he stated that he received 5,000 euros per month<\/strong>, which, as he said, he declared properly and paid taxes on in Greece. <\/p>\n Responding to accusations of a possible kickback<\/strong>, he emphasized that these specific amounts had been declared to the Greek tax authorities. At the same time, he noted that the documents from Fight Impunity<\/strong> contain, as he said, no reference to Mauritania<\/strong>, Morocco<\/strong>, or Qatar<\/strong>. <\/p>\n<\/p>\n Avramopoulos: \u201cI participated as an honorary member, without any executive powers.\u201d Oikonomou: \u201cBut for a fee.\u201d Avramopoulos: \u201c5,000 a month, which I then declare and which are taxed in Greece. Is it possible that there is\u2014\u201d Pavlopoulos: \u201cMiza\u2014\u201d Avramopoulos: \u201cWhere\u2026 pic.twitter.com\/vIBATgxNbv <\/p>\n \u2014 tomanifesto.gr (@tomanifesto) June 24, 2026 <\/p><\/blockquote>\n Referring to his relations with Qatar<\/strong>, the former Commissioner emphasized that during his tenure he was also responsible for the Schengen Area<\/strong>, within the framework of which requests from countries for visa-free travel for their citizens were reviewed. <\/p>\n According to him, Qatar had submitted such a request, but it was not approved during his tenure. As he noted, there is a document bearing his signature rejecting the granting of a visa waiver<\/strong> to Qatar. He added that the next European Commission<\/strong>, following the departure of his own, reexamined the issue and ultimately proceeded to approve the relevant proposal. <\/p>\n Avramopoulos: \u201cWhen I was a Commissioner, I was also responsible for Schengen. That\u2019s where applications come in from all countries, requesting visa-free travel for their citizens. Qatar had also submitted an application. It was not approved with my signature.\u201d Oikonomou: \u201cSo if you lobbied\u2026 <\/span>pic.twitter.com\/4Do4GqiYCc <\/p>\n \u2014 tomanifesto.gr (@tomanifesto) June 24, 2026 <\/p><\/blockquote>\n Dimitris Avramopoulos<\/strong> also cited recent statements by the spokesperson for the European Commission<\/strong>, arguing that they confirm the legality of his participation in Fight Impunity <\/strong><\/span> As he noted, the Commission had sought the opinion of the Independent Ethics Committee<\/strong> in February 2021<\/strong>, and the Committee publicly stated its position. Subsequently, according to him, the College of Commissioners<\/strong> approved his activity, setting specific conditions. <\/p>\n The former Commissioner maintained that, according to the Commission spokesperson, these conditions were fully complied with<\/strong>. He added that the President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen<\/strong>, had requested an investigation into whether she had any involvement in the Qatargate<\/strong> case, with all Commissioners responding in the negative in writing, as he said. <\/p>\n<\/p>\n Avramopoulos: \u201cSince the issue has come up in recent days, the responses were issued by the European Commission spokesperson yesterday. The spokesperson said: \u2018In February 2021, the Commission sought the opinion of the Independent Ethics Committee, which publicly stated its opinion\u2026 pic.twitter.com\/D9UV8Ql6gZ<\/p>\n \u2014 tomanifesto.gr (@tomanifesto) June 24, 2026<\/p><\/blockquote>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" \u201cFor 2\u20133 days, Mr. Chrysochoidis kept it in a drawer and didn\u2019t tell me; I don\u2019t know why\u2014that\u2019s his business.\u201d\n
Regarding Fight Impunity: The funds were declared and taxed<\/strong> <\/h3>\n
\n
Regarding Qatar: During my tenure, it did not receive visa waiver status<\/strong> <\/h3>\n
\n
Regarding the European Commission: All conditions set were met<\/strong> <\/h3>\n
\n
\n Dimitris Avramopoulos in …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":12549,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-12548","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-politics"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/en.tomanifesto.gr\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12548","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/en.tomanifesto.gr\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/en.tomanifesto.gr\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/en.tomanifesto.gr\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/en.tomanifesto.gr\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=12548"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/en.tomanifesto.gr\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12548\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/en.tomanifesto.gr\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/12549"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/en.tomanifesto.gr\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=12548"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/en.tomanifesto.gr\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=12548"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/en.tomanifesto.gr\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=12548"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}