Qatargate: The “political earthquake” Kaili and the European bubble that burst

By Athena Papakosta

The tangle of revelations about the financing case of European officials is unraveling and the European political scene is shaken. “Qatargate” exploded like a bomb with Eva Kaili being at the center of a scandal that bursts the European bubble.

Four 24 hours have already passed and the police authorities of Belgium carried out a new, second raid on the offices of the European Parliament (EP). In this, according to the Belgian federal prosecutors, data from electronic sources was seized from a total of 10 parliamentary assistants. In total, Belgian police have carried out 20 raids and seized several hundred thousand euros from three different locations. In particular, 600,000 euros were found in the house of a suspect, several hundred thousand euros in a suitcase in a hotel room and approximately 150,000 euros in an apartment belonging to a member of the European Parliament. The Belgian press reports that it is money in an apartment of Mrs. Kaili and money of the Italian former MEP of the Social Democrats, Pier Antonio Panzeri. So far, six have been arrested but four are still being held and will appear before the pre-trial department on Wednesday.

“We’d rather be cold than get paid.” With these words, the President of the European Parliament, Roberta Metzola he continued an emotionally charged speech which he started before the EP in Strasbourg by emphasizing that “these were the most difficult days of my career”.

For Metsola the “European Parliament is under attack, European democracy is under attack”. He spoke of “malicious actors” who are “linked to third countries” and “allegedly have instrumentalized NGOs, trade unions, individuals, aides and members of the European Parliament”.

He said he was scheduled to “announce the opening of the negotiating mandate for the report on the visa exemption for Qatari and Kuwaiti passport holders. In light of the investigations, this report should be sent back to the committee.” He stressed that the European Parliament’s services have worked with the Belgian authorities in a coordinated and close manner and revealed that he accompanied a Belgian judge and the police to a house search at the weekend. Metsola’s message is clear: nothing under the carpet. There will be no impunity, Parliament will be on the side of the law.

As far as Eva Kaili is concerned, all the duties and responsibilities related to her role as Vice-President have been removed from her while, as she clarified, an “extraordinary meeting of the Conference of Presidents has been convened to launch the Article 21 procedure in order to terminate her term as Vice President”. It is worth recalling that Mrs. Kaili, as part of her responsibilities, handled Middle Eastern issues representing President Metsola. At the same time, the Alliance of Socialists and Democrats (S&D) group, also invoking Article 21 of the parliamentary rules, deletes the 44-year-old from the S&D group and calls on any Socialist MEP who has parliamentary assistants under investigation should “resign from any position of responsibility and to abstain from any activity within the European Parliament”.

Mark Tarabella, whose house was raided on Saturday, has submitted his resignation from the group of Euroscial Democrats. Tarabella, who was the vice-chairman of the European Parliament’s delegation for relations with the Arabian Peninsula, was not brought in and is currently not in custody. Maria Arena, MEP of the Social Democrats has now resigned as chair of the EP sub-committee on human rights. He had succeeded Pier Antonio Pancheri in this position. Pietro Bartolo has also left the Committee on Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs (LIBE) of the EP, while Andrea Cozzolino, whose assistant was Francesco Giorgi, has also left some of his duties.

In Brussels they fear that the current avalanche of revelations it’s just the tip of the iceberg and several MEPs expect more revelations. At the wells in Strasbourg, many were discussing that they expect the investigations to be extended to other persons in the next period of time. The French and German press remarked that the prestige of the European Parliament had received a strong blow. Already – while the House’s fight against corruption in Hungary is underway – the country’s president, Viktor Orbán, commented by wagging his finger on Twitter that “even then the European Parliament is seriously concerned about corruption in Hungary”.

For its part, the Commission and Ursula von der Leyen spoke of “extremely worrying and very serious” accusations, with the Commission’s representative, Eric Mamer, issuing a statement underlining that “the president supports the entire House of Commissioners”. This led to publications concerning the Vice-President of the Commission, Mr. Margaritis Schina, with Mr. Mamer pointing out that with regard to his statements on labor rights in Qatar, the positions he has taken are in line with those of the Commission. There are no discrepancies , nor differences”. At the same time, Vangelis Demiris, a close associate of Mr. Schinas, denies with a message on Twitter that the vice-president of the Commission is under investigation by the Belgian authorities.

The Italian flavor is strong at Qatargate. THE Antonio Panzeri, 67 years old and former MEP has been brought and remains in jail in Brussels with his wife and daughter under house arrest in different homes. During a new raid, 17,000 euros, documents and computers were seized, while according to RAI the Italian prosecutors agreed to the extradition request to Belgium of his wife and daughter. The Italian partner of Eva Kailis and for many years a worker in the European Parliament, Francesco Giorgi, remains in prison. Finally, F., a Brussels lobbyist, is also in prison. All of them are charged with participation in a criminal organization, money laundering and corruption. They will appear before the pre-trial department on Wednesday.

In Brussels, no one is sleeping peacefully after one of the biggest scandals of corruption and illegal money has just exploded. But some also recall the prosecution’s investigation into the Pfizer vaccine supply case, talking about irregularities with Ursula von der Leyen having personally taken over the negotiation…

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