An atmosphere of shock reigns this Monday in the European Parliament, following the imprisonment of its vice-president Eva Kaili, accused in a corruption case related to Qatar that could tarnish the image of the institution.
The parliamentarian was stripped of her functions as vice president of the European Parliament, the presidency of that legislative chamber reported on Saturday.
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Kaili was “suspended with immediate effect from all powers, duties and tasks delegated to her in her capacity as Vice-President of the European Parliament”indicated a spokesman for the parliamentary president, Roberta Metsola.
These allegations are extremely concerning.
Kaili, a 44-year-old Greek Eurolegislator, and three other people were jailed in Brussels on Sunday, two days after being arrested as part of an investigation about payments allegedly made by Qatar to influence European policy.
“These allegations are extremely concerning. It is a matter of trust in the people who are at the heart of our institutionsand that trust presupposes high levels of independence and integrity,” said European Commission head Ursula von der Leyen.
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In turn, the head of EU diplomacy, Josep Borrell (who was already president of the European Parliament), said that the accusations were “very worrying” and “very serious”. The President of the European Parliament, the Maltese Roberta Metsola, must be pronounced at the opening of the monthly plenary session that brings together all MEPs in Strasbourg (France).
Meanwhile, sources from the European Parliament reported that an urgent meeting of the presidents of the party blocks was called in the European Parliament, to discuss this Belgian judicial investigation that broke out on Friday night.
A Belgian judicial source told AFP that Kaili she was unable to benefit from her parliamentary immunity because she was arrested in flagrante delictoand added that in his apartment they found bags full of cash.
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In Brussels, the Italian union leader Luca Visentini, who had been brought to give a statement in the case, informed AFP on Monday that he had been released on Sunday without charges against him.
Qatar denies any relationship with the case
In the middle of the scandal The Qatari government denies any connection to the case. “Any accusation of misconduct by the State of Qatar is serious misinformation,” a Qatari government official said on Saturday.
In any case, the European Parliament was shocked by the scandal “We will have to urgently strengthen our institution to fight the poison of corruption”said French MEP Aurore Lalucq, a member of the Social Democrat bloc, a bloc that suspended Kaili over the weekend.
Parliament’s agenda for this week includes a discussion on “the defense of democracies against foreign interference”, which in light of this scandal changed its meaning and promises to be a hectic day.
In Brussels, German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock said what happened in the European Parliament “is an incredible incident.” Now, she added, the entire episode “must be clarified unequivocally and to the fullest extent of the law.”
For his part, the Irish Foreign Minister, Simon Coveney, defended the initiation of a “full and transparent investigation”to know “what has happened”.
Kaili, a former TV presenter, was expelled on Friday from the Greek Socialist Party (Pasok-Kinal), of which she was already a controversial figure, and her assets were frozen by the Greek anti-money laundering authority.
On Saturday night, Metsola toannounced that it had relieved Kaili of all her duties as vice president, among which stood out representing the president of the legislative branch in the Middle East region. She in that role had traveled to Qatar in November, when in a ceremony she praised the reforms that the emirate was carrying out in terms of labor law.
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The organization of the soccer World Cup is witness to the “historic transformation of a country whose reforms have inspired the Arab world,” he said.
Kaili in parliament on November 21.
The last major scandal that shook the European Parliament broke out in 2011when British journalists posed as lobbyists and made three MEPs accept large sums of money to introduce legislative amendments that benefit the banking sector.
Of the three Eurolegislators, two of them had been Ministers of Foreign Affairs, and the third was a former Minister of the Interior, and all were prosecuted and sentenced to prison terms by the courts of their respective countries.
AFP
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