Qatargate MEP returns to work

 

Qatargate MEP returns to work

 

Marc Tarabella attends fisheries committee and grabs drink in Parliament café.

 

EU-BELGIUM-QATAR-CORRUPTION-PROBE

Belgian MEP Marc Tarabella | Valeria Mongelli/AFP via Getty Images

BY GREGORIO SORGI AND LOUISE GUILLOT

MAY 24, 2023 12:28 PM CET

https://www.politico.eu/article/qatargate-scandal-corruption-mep-marc-tarabella-is-back/

 

BRUSSELS — He’s back.

 

Three months after being arrested by Belgian police as part of the ongoing investigation into corruption allegations that rocked the European Parliament, EU lawmaker Marc Tarabella was spotted back at work on Wednesday.

 

He attended a fisheries committee meeting in the morning and was spied grabbing a drink in the Parliament’s third-floor café in Brussels.

 

A staffer who saw Tarabella said “he looked rather drained but was sitting with someone, so he is clearly not as alone and untouchable as Kaili” — a reference to Eva Kaili, one of the other lawmakers still under detention.

 

Tarabella was able to move freely to work on Wednesday because he had his electronic ankle bracelet removed two weeks ago — although certain restrictions remain.

 

The two other current MEPs involved in the so-called Qatargate probe — Kaili and Italian Andrea Cozzolino — have also been clamoring to return to work but cannot do so as they are still under house arrest.

 

Tarabella is accused of corruption, participation in a criminal organization and money laundering, but he expressed shock at the allegations in a press conference earlier this month, proclaiming his innocence.

 

The veteran Belgian socialist politician decided not to stand again in the European Parliament elections in 2024, but intends to carry out his duties for the last year of his mandate.

 

Tarabella on Wednesday took part in a vote on the Nature Restoration Regulation and spoke on the environmental impact of fishing.

 

“The report from Mr. Mato, which I welcome, is correct in talking about sustainability as being tridimensional … we think about the environmental dimension but there is indeed economic and social dimension, the living conditions of fishers who are the main players in producing the food,” he said.