Qatargate exposes weaknesses of the European Parliament and risks EU credibility

The most egregious, unprecedented and shocking corruption scandal to hit a European Union institution. The adjectives illustrate the dimension of the case investigated by Belgian authorities, according to which a group of people with functions and transit within the European Parliament would have received money and favors to defend Qatar’s interests —an absolutist monarchy that seeks, also with the holding of the World Cup of the World, improve its international position.

Dubbed Qatargate, the episode exposes the EU’s structural weaknesses in dealing with the actions of lobbyists and their servants, which contributes to undermining the bloc’s credibility, according to analysts.

Since last Friday (9), when the scandal came to light, searches have been carried out in dozens of homes and offices in Brussels. More than €1 million in notes was found, according to the Belgian press, and four people were arrested, including one of the vice-presidents of the European Parliament, Eva Kaili.

The Greek MEP lost office this Tuesday (13) and had already been removed from her party and the parliamentary group to which she belonged. None of the suspects have been formally identified, but the names have been leaked to the press. They would be Kaili’s companion, who acts as an advisor to another MEP, a former parliamentarian and the head of an NGO — all Italians. The four are accused of corruption, money laundering and affiliation with a criminal organization.

According to European Transparency International, if the suspicions are confirmed, the case will be the most flagrant of corruption in the House, but it is far from representing an isolated incident. “Over decades Parliament has allowed a culture of impunity to develop, with a combination of lax rules and controls,” said its head, Michiel van Hulten, himself a former MEP.

For Alberto Alemanno, professor of European Union law at HEC Paris and founder of Good Lobby, an NGO that works in defense of transparency, this is the most shocking corruption scandal in the history of the European bloc. “The nature and scale make this episode very different.”

According to him, previous cases, even involving MEPs receiving bribes from corporations — such as the Austrian Ernst Strasser, sentenced to four years in prison in 2013 — had a contained and isolated ray. “Now we’re talking about a completely different level of corruption, involving high-ranking influential officials paid to clean up another country’s image. It’s unprecedented.”

In November, a few days before the start of the Qatar Cup, French MEP Manon Aubry had already drawn attention to parliamentarians who were “relaying” arguments from the host country. At the time, the European Parliament approved a resolution that regretted the lack of transparency about the death of immigrant workers and the suspicions of corruption in the process of choosing the country as the host, within the framework of FIFA. It also cited abuses against the LGBTQIA+ community and women.

On the eve of the vote, Eva Kaili made an emphatic defense of Qatar in the plenary. “The Cup is proof of how sports diplomacy can achieve the historic transformation of a country with reforms that inspired the Arab world,” she said. Her lawyer denied to a Greek TV station that she had received bribes. Doha also denies involvement in the investigated cases.

One of the projects being discussed in the European Parliament is visa exemption for Qatari citizens in the EU for up to 90 days, whether for tourism or business — as is the case today with Brazilians. After the revelation of the case, the process was returned to the commission phase, where it had already been approved at the beginning of this month.

“The European Parliament is the weakest link in the European integrity system. It is the institution that has the most relaxed rules and applications, which creates a culture of impunity that makes this type of misconduct possible”, says Alemanno.

Its plural composition makes it a special target for lobbyists. There are 705 members who represent the 27 countries of the bloc, speaking 24 languages, and who, after being elected nationally, go to Strasbourg and Brussels to do politics. The House does not have an independent ethics body, capable of monitoring and punishing cases that violate the code of conduct —which MEPs must undertake to respect, but whose control is carried out by their own colleagues.

For Alemanno, the most urgent reform is the need to prohibit a parliamentarian from developing professional activities at the same time as his mandate. According to a 2021 survey by Transparency International, 27% of the members who entered the body in 2019 had paid activities – from law firms to participation in the boards of organizations. “If this is banned, as it is in most parliaments around the world, this ecosystem of illicit behavior and gray areas diminishes.”

For Transparency International, the creation of an independent ethics body for the European Union is a priority. The subject was part of the proposals of the President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, when she took office in 2019, but little progress has been made. “After four years, the European Commission is not showing much interest in this. We are practically a year away from the next elections [em 2024] and there is still no proposal to be discussed by the Commission”, says the entity.

The investigation by the Belgian authorities, which allegedly began in July this year and reaches its peak on the eve of the World Cup final, is yet another negative factor for the EU, which is trying to maintain its unity to deal with the War in Ukraine, the energy crisis and high cost of living. The case began to be explored by critics of the bloc, such as former British parliamentarian Nigel Farage, one of the biggest advocates of brexit. “We always knew the EU was corrupt,” he said.

Another who gloated was the prime minister of Hungary, Viktor Orbán, who has been pressured by the bloc to reinforce internal measures to combat corruption. On Twitter, he published an image with the sentence: “And they said that the European Parliament was deeply concerned about corruption in Hungary”.

Qatargate has two immediate consequences, according to Alemanno. “The first is to erode the trust that European citizens have in institutions. Not just the European Parliament, but the entire EU is damaged. The other is the international damage. The bloc is weakened because it is less trustworthy when trying to promote democracy and the principle of the rule of law.”