by Belgian media identified the state as Qatar and reported that the accused included a European Parliament deputy, Eva Kaili, and her partner, parliamentary assistant Francesco Giorgi, as well as a former European Parliament member, Pier Antonio Panzeri. Others reportedly involved in the investigation include the head of a Brussels-based union and an unnamed Italian citizen.
European authorities have yet to confirm the country involved. Qatar has denied wrongdoing.
Within the EU institutions, it is being talked about as the biggest scandal in recent memory. German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock said the response would test “Europe’s credibility”.
Here’s what you need to know.
Who is Eva Kaili and what is she accused of?
Before being indicted in this case and stripped of her official duties, Eva Kaili, 44, was a Greek member of the European Parliament and one of its vice-presidents.
The vice-presidents can replace the president of the institution when necessary, including the chairmanship of the monthly plenary sessions in which the main decisions are voted. They also have a say in administrative, personnel and organizational matters.
But their power is limited. The European Parliament has 14 vice-presidents and 705 members. It is also the weakest of the three key institutions of the European Union.
Belgian police arrested Kaili – known in Greece as a former news anchor – and charged her with participation in a criminal organization, money laundering and corruption, according to Agence France-Presse.
The fallout was immediate: her political group in the European Parliament, the Progressive Alliance of Socialists and Democrats (S&D), suspended her, as did her political party in Greece, the Pasok-Movement for Change. On Saturday, European Parliament president Roberta Metsola suspended Kaili from her “powers, duties and tasks” as vice-president.
According to the Belgian newspaper L’Echo, the police who raided Kaili’s house on Friday found bags of money. They also questioned Kaili’s father, who was found with a suitcase full of cash as he left a Sofitel hotel in Brussels. The inspectors suspect that he has been informed of the ongoing police operation, L’Echo reported, citing police sources.
How would Qatar be involved?
Belgian prosecutors suspect “that third parties in political and/or strategic positions within the European Parliament received large sums of money or offered substantial gifts to influence the parliament’s decision”. Belgian news outlets have widely reported that the “Gulf country” suspected of being behind the plan is Qatar, although EU authorities have not named it.
Kaili he recently traveled to Qatar, meeting with Labor Minister Ali bin Samikh Al Marri, though a previous trip arranged for a European Parliament delegation was postponed by Qatari officials with little notice, Politico reported.
Back in Brussels, according to Politico, she participated in a vote by the European Parliament’s Justice and Home Affairs Committee – of which she is not a member – to back a proposal to allow Qatari and Kuwaiti visa-free travel within the EU’s Schengen area. ‘EU.
He also described the country as “a leader in labor rights” in a Nov. 21 debate over alleged human rights abuses during the construction of the World Cup’s infrastructure. At the end of that debate, the European Parliament condemned the deaths of thousands of migrant workers during the construction of eight stadiums, the expansion of an airport, a new subway, many hotels and miles of new roads. The European body has criticized both Qatar and football’s governing body, FIFA.
Qatar’s government has denied any involvement in the alleged corruption scheme, which has made headlines as the World Cup is in its final stages and the country is trying to portray itself as a key forward-thinking geopolitical player.
“The State of Qatar categorically rejects any attempt to associate it with allegations of misconduct,” the Qatar Mission to the European Union said in a tweet on Sunday. “Any association by the Qatari government with the reported claims is baseless and grossly misinformed.”
What does this mean for European politics?
The allegations raise new questions about corruption and influence-peddling in EU institutions, putting current and former officials under scrutiny and likely leading to calls for institutional oversight to be overhauled.
In Brussels, the revelations were met with shock, but not surprise, with observers and EU experts noting long-standing concerns about the bloc’s institutions, especially the European Parliament.
“Whatever its final outcome, the Qatar ‘corruption’ scandal has revealed an inconvenient and already obvious truth for most Europeans. Money buys influence in the EU,” wrote Alberto Alemanno, the Jean Monnet professor of EU law at the HEC in Paris, in an opinion piece for Politico Europe.
“While this may be the most egregious case of alleged corruption the European Parliament has seen in many years, it is not an isolated incident,” said Michiel van Hulten, director of Transparency International EU, in a statement.
The European Parliament “has allowed the development of a culture of impunity” thanks to lax financial rules and the absence of independent ethical oversight, van Hulten said, adding that MEPs have blocked attempts to change the situation. You have asked the European Commission to publish its “long-delayed proposal on the creation of an independent EU ethics body, with investigative and enforcement powers”.
Ursula von der Leyen, president of the European Commission, has called for the creation of such a body, but the official charged with making it happen has admitted it likely will not have the capacity to investigate or enforce it.
On Monday, von der Leyen called the allegations against Kaili “very serious.” Josep Borrell, head of the bloc’s foreign and security arm, said they were “very worrying”.
For now, the scandal is a gift to EU critics, especially leaders like Hungary’s Victor Orban, who regularly slam the bloc for criticizing democratic shortcomings within EU countries.
On Monday morning, Orban’s Twitter account posted a meme which showed a group of men laughing hysterically with the words “And then they said the [European Parliament] is seriously concerned about corruption in Hungary” superimposed.
Kaili’s partner Francesco Giorgi was also arrested and charged, his phone was seized by Belgian law enforcement, according to Belgian newspaper Le Soir.
The European Parliament indicates Giorgi as accredited assistant to the Italian MEP Andrea Cozzolino, who is part of the same parliamentary group as Kaili, and who chairs the delegation for relations with the Maghreb countries (north-west Africa). Giorgi describes himself on LinkedIn as a “political adviser in the field of human rights, EU foreign affairs with an extensive network of contacts with parliamentarians, politicians, EU institutions, NGOs, diplomats”.
Giorgi is one of the founders of the global based in Brussels The non-profit human rights organization Fight Impunity, whose president, Pier Antonio Panzeri, is also implicated in the corruption investigation.
Panzeri, 67, was a member of the European Parliament from 2004 to 2009. Among other positions, he chaired the delegation for relations with the Maghreb countries (DMAG) within the S&D group. He founded Fight Impunity in 2019 and is now its president.
According to Le Soir, Belgian investigators suspect Panzeri of leading a criminal organization to influence decision-making within the European Parliament with money and gifts on behalf of the Qatari government.
On Friday, Italian police arrested Panzeri’s wife and daughter, the subject of a European arrest warrant, according to Politico and the Italian newspaper Corriere della Sera.
