Qatargate: a big scandal that led to a change in rules

On Friday 9 December 2022, Vice-President of the European Parliament (EP) Eva Kiley was arrested on suspicion of accepting bribes from Qatar and Morocco in exchange for political favors. This marked the beginning of a case that shook the structures of the European Union and led to decisions aimed at preventing something similar from happening again.

Belgian police raids at Espace Léopold/Leopoldruimte, the European Parliament complex in Brussels, and residential buildings in the capital led to the arrest of six people, including Francesco Giorgi, an associate of the Greek socialist, and his father Alexandros Kyli. and Luca Visentini, Secretary General of the International Trade Union Confederation, the largest trade union confederation in the world.

Belgian Socialist MEP Marc Tarabella and Italians Pier Antonio Panzeri, who was part of the European Socialist Party Group from 2004 to 2019, and Niccolo Figa-Talamanca, secretary general of the non-governmental organization No Peace Without Justice, were also detained in Brussels.

Belgian authorities seized 1.5 million euros in cash from the detainees, and Italian police executed two arrest warrants for the wife and daughter of Pier Panzeri and confiscated 20 thousand euros from a house owned by Francesco Giorgi.

This was followed by the seizure of active assets and real estate belonging to Eva Kiley and close family members, the arrest of another Italian MEP – Andrea Cozzolino, elected from the Democratic Party – and searches at the residences of the Belgian socialist MEP Marie Arena. with a seizure of 280 thousand euros in the house of his son Hugo Lemaire.

Investigations into the receipt of money, valuable gifts, travel and various services in exchange for promoting the interests of Qatar, the organizer of the 2022 World Cup, as well as Morocco and Mauritania, revealed an extensive network of corruption and money laundering. in which the Greek MEP stood out, occupying one of the fourteen Vice-Presidents of the European Parliament.

The lifting of parliamentary immunity and partial confessions, as happened with Antonio Panzeri, has allowed the scope of investigations to expand, and suspects of corruption, money laundering and criminal association are awaiting trial at large with the use of various coercive measures.

Authorities in Doha, Rabat and Nouakchott deny attempts to illegally influence political decisions in the European Parliament.

Kiley, detained for four months, was expelled from PASOK and the European Socialist Party group, dismissed as vice-president of the European Parliament four days after the scandal broke: 625 votes in favor, one against and two abstentions, but remains an MEP independent until end of the legislature.

Politics Thessaloniki is also the subject of an investigation by the European Public Prosecutor’s Office for suspected fraud amounting to €270,000 in the hiring and misappropriation of assistants’ salaries, as well as improper reimbursement of travel expenses since 2014. the year in which he was elected to the European Parliament, and 2020.

Transparency and integrity

Following the scandal, which President Roberta Metsola classified as an “attack on the European Union,” the European Parliament revised the terms of MPs’ declarations of personal and financial interests, requiring them to report, in particular, sources of income exceeding five thousand euros.

Earlier in September 2021, the European Parliament proposed the creation of an Independent European Union Ethics Authority to promote “transparency and integrity.”

However, it was only in March of this year that Parliament, the Commission, the observer Court of Justice, the European Central Bank, the Court of Auditors, the Economic and Social Committee and the Committee of the Regions announced a political agreement to create an organization that would allow “all participating institutions to exercise independent control over lobbying and anti-corruption standards.”

The “Constitutional Commission” is currently preparing a report on the constitution of the Independent Ethics Authority and plans to submit the text to a vote by MEPs at the April 22-25 session.