“We conducted (as I said on Monday) internal audits in it. Commission against former commissioner Avramopoulos for his post-term activities. Indeed, as you said, and we note, he visited various commissioners between November 15 and 17, 2021, what the commission members call short ceremonial visits, mainly to former colleagues or his successor, Ylva Johansson, or to an old acquaintance, Stella Kyriakidou,” – he said. The Chief Representative of the Commission, Eric Mamer, asked about the meetings of Mr. Avramopoulos with the Commissioners, but also whether issues such as human rights or Qatar were discussed.

Mr. Mamer added that “we understand that in none of these meetings did he represent the NGO for which he was seeking permission to hold office”, also noting that issues such as those raised in the question were not discussed. At the same time, the Commission’s chief spokesman also spoke of meeting with former colleagues “for short private conversations, especially when these colleagues were in Greece.”

“However, the Commission is writing to former Commissioner Avramopoulos to obtain further information on how he complied with the conditions set for his activities after the deadline, and we also ask him to provide information on how he represented this NGO between the authorization date and the end of the period,” that he was bound by the rules of the Commission, Eric Mamer added.

It is noted that previously Politico reported that European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen launched an urgent investigation into the contacts of EU officials. with Dimitris Avramopoulos. At the same time, the European Commission is asking for a former EU Commissioner for Migration. explain how he complies with lobbying rules.

With information from APE/PE