FIFA president Sepp Blatter on Thursday ruled out a European Parliament demand for him to quit immediately, but one of his top lieutenants did resign from the embattled organisation. Blatter, who resigned last week despite being re-elected as head of football's world governing body, which has been consumed by an ever-widening corruption probe, intends to continue in office until a successor is designated, probably by the end of the year.
"FIFA is perplexed by the European Parliament's resolution," a FIFA spokesman said. "As is well known, following his re-election, the FIFA President already decided, owing to the special circumstances in which FIFA finds itself, to lay down his mandate at an extraordinary elective Congress."
The European Parliament had earlier called on Blatter to step down immediately and allow for an interim leader to launch reforms in global football's governing body. In a show of hands, members of parliament overwhelmingly voted for the resolution in Strasbourg, France. The FIFA spokseman added: "The President is focused on ensuring that at this Congress, which he is demanding, imperative reforms are passed and a new President elected."
The date for the congress will be set at an executive committee meeting on July 20. Meanwhile, FIFA director of communications and public affairs Walter De Gregorio resigned from his position with immediate effect on Thursday. Nicolas Maingot, his deputy, has been named as an interim replacement for De Gregorio. De Gregorio, who FIFA said will continue to serve "on a consultancy basis" until the end of the year, had been in the position since 2011 and was present when Blatter announced his resignation on June 2. "Walter has worked incredibly hard for the past four years and we are immensely grateful for all he has done. I am glad we will be able to continue to draw on his expertise until the end of the year," FIFA Secretary General Jerome Valcke said in the statement.
Some media reports suggested that De Gregorio had fallen on his sword after making a joke about the FIFA crisis on Swiss TV. It was claimed De Gregorio joked to an interviewer: "The FIFA president, Sepp Blatter, the director of communications and the general secretary are all sitting in a car - who is driving? The police."
In Argentina, two men wanted in connection with the corruption inquiry said they would not be giving themselves up for extradition. Lawyers for father and son Hugo and Mariano Jinkis said their clients had no intention of fleeing justice. "They are not fugitives, they are within their rights," said lawyer Francisco Castex, who added that if attempts to extradite the duo went ahead, an immediate appeal would be lodged.
Hugo Jinkis, 70, and Mariano, 40, are respectively president and vice-president of Full Play, a company that owns TV rights to matches of South American qualifying for the World Cup. Football's governing body has been in the grip of a crisis since the end of May when 14 current or former FIFA officials and sports marketing executives were charged following a wave of arrests in Zurich as part of a US investigation into alleged corruption.
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