Live blog: Qatar corruption scandal rocks EU

 

LIVE BLOG

Live blog: Qatar corruption scandal rocks EU

 

European Parliament Vice President Eva Kaili has been charged in a snowballing graft crisis that is turning into a major test of rule of law in Europe.

 

BY POLITICO STAFF

DECEMBER 12, 2022 1:35 PM CET

https://www.politico.eu/article/corruption-european-parliament-qatar-live-blog/

 

Eva Kaili, vice president of the European Parliament, is the biggest name to be charged in a snowballing inquiry into allegations that World Cup host Qatar paid for influence in Europe.

 

The scandal is turning into a major test of accountability for the European Parliament, and particularly lawmakers from the Socialists and Democrats group. Much attention is being focused on MEPs and other officials who praised Qatar for labor reforms rather than condemning workers’ rights in the Gulf emirate and dangerous conditions during stadium construction.

 

A series of at least 16 raids by the Belgian federal police Friday netted five people they said had committed “alleged offenses of criminal organization, corruption and money laundering.” The searches yielded €600,000 in cash, plus phones and computers.

 

Qatar denies any involvement.

 

Here are the latest developments on Monday:

 

DECEMBER 12, 20225:37 PM

Nicolas Camut

and

Cory Bennett

WE WILL ROOT OUT THE EVIL, METSOLA VOWS

 

European Parliament President Roberta Metsola pledged on Monday to launch an internal investigation into the blossoming corruption allegations that have seized Brussels, following a series of police raids that exposed possible cash-for-influence schemes.

 

“We will meet this test head-on, there will be no impunity,” Metsola declared, opening a session of Parliament in Strasbourg. “None.”

 

It's been a rocky few days for Metsola, as she was called back from her home country of Malta over the weekend to oversee a police search on Parliament property. Already, prominent MEPs like Eva Kaili have been implicated in the scandal, which touches on potential illegal lobbying efforts from Qatar and possibly other countries.

 

“Longest days of my career,” Metsola reflected. “I must choose my words carefully.”

 

And on Monday night, Brussels police launched a second series of raids, indicating the scandal would only widen in the coming days.

 

“This is not about right or left,” Metsola said. “This is about right and wrong, and I would appeal to you to resist temptation to exploit this moment for political gains.”

 

DECEMBER 12, 20225:28 PM

 

Samuel Stolton

KAILI EXPELLED FROM S&D GROUP

 

Eva Kaili has been expelled from the Socialists & Democrats group in the European Parliament with immediate effect.

 

The Greek MEP is being detained in St. Gilles prison in Brussels after having been arrested on bribery charges, facing allegations of shady dealings with Qatar.

 

Kaili’s S&D group on Monday invoked Rule 21 of the Parliamentary rules of procedure — which lay out the conditions under which senior members of Parliament can be removed from office. The group said that during this week’s plenary session in Strasbourg, Kaili should be stripped of her Parliament vice-president title.

 

Moreover, any S&D MEP that has parliamentary assistants under investigation should “step down from any responsibility and refrain from any activity within the European Parliament,” the group said.

 

The S&D also called for an urgent debate added to this week’s plenary session on “corruption from Gulf countries” and they also proposed setting up a Parliamentary inquiry committee into foreign interference.

 

Read the full statement here.

 

DECEMBER 12, 20225:12 PM

 

Camille Gijs

QATAR VISA VOTE GOES BACK TO COMMITTEE

 

European Parliament President Roberta Metsola in Strasbourg confirmed that the proposal to grant visa-free travel for Qatari citizens is returning to committee.

 

“I was scheduled today to announce the opening of the negotiating mandate for the visa waiver report with Qatar and Kuwait. In light of the investigations, this report must be sent back to committee,” Metsola said to applauding parliamentarians.

 

Erik Marquardt, the lead MEP on the file, told POLITICO he favors freezing the vote on the topic scheduled this week in Parliament.

 

DECEMBER 12, 20225:07 PM

 

Laura Kayali

CALLS FOR INQUIRY PILE UP IN EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT

 

French MEP Raphaël Glucksmann from the S&D, who chairs the special committee on foreign interference, called for a specific inquiry committee on Qatari influence and corruption allegations. His call echoes those of Green MEP Yannick Jadot — a former presidential candidate in France — and Manon Aubry, also a French national and co-chair of the Left group.

 

DECEMBER 12, 20224:58 PM

 

Hannah Brenton

BELGIAN MEP ARENA TO TEMPORARILY STAND ASIDE AS CHAIR OF HUMAN RIGHTS SUBCOMMITTEE

 

Belgian MEP Maria Arena said today she will temporarily stand aside as chair of the European Parliament’s subcommittee on human rights, which is caught up in the Qatar corruption scandal.

 

Police searched the office of Arena’s parliamentary aide, who used to work for the nongovernmental organization Fight Impunity, on Friday. Belgian media also reported that the subcommittee is under scrutiny as part of the police investigation.

 

“Following the revelations of suspicions of corruption linked to Qatar in @Europaparl_EN, and the search of one of my assistants in the context of this case, I have decided that I will temporarily no longer chair chair the meetings of the sub-committee DROI,” Arena tweeted.

 

She’ll remain on the sidelines until there is “clarity” and hand over to one of the committee’s vice-chairs, the Socialist & Democrat lawmaker said in a second tweet. “I made this decision in the interests of DROI’s work,” she said.

 

DECEMBER 12, 20224:37 PM

 

Nektaria Stamouli

ATHENS FREEZES ASSETS OF KAILI’S FAMILY

 

Greek authorities have frozen all the assets of the family of European Parliament Vice President Eva Kaili, who was charged on Sunday with corruption in a scandal related to influence peddling by World Cup host Qatar.

 

Greek officials said Kaili, her husband, her parents and immediate family members are covered by the freeze, which relates to real estate, accounts, all kinds of financial products and corporate holdings. The aim is to block cash and other gifts that could be linked to money laundering.

 

The freeze covers Kaili’s sister Mantalena, who is executive director of ELONtech, a non-governmental organization working on the effect of law on new technologies.

 

DECEMBER 12, 20224:30 PM

 

Sarah-Taïssir Bencharif

ACCESS FORBIDDEN

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The sealed offices of Eva Kaili and of some of her assistants in the eerily quiet halls of the European Parliament in Brussels.

 

DECEMBER 12, 20224:23 PM

 

Clothilde Goujard

JUSTICE COMMISSIONER REYNDERS: STRONGER RULES AGAINST CORRUPTION NEEDED

 

European Justice Commissioner Didier Reynders has called for stronger rules to combat corruption and shady influence in European institutions.

 

“It’s very important to strengthen the rules … certainly to better fight against corruption, all the conflicts of interest, or all the kinds of different influences on the Parliament, like on all the institutions,” said the Belgian politician in an interview with POLITICO.

 

Reynders said it was possible Qatar also attempted to influence the European Commission.

 

“I don’t have any information,” he said. “It’s all the time a possibility, like in the member states, like in all the institutions,” he said, answering a question about Qatar seeking to approach Commission officials.

 

“We are following investigations organized by an independent justice system of one of the member states,” he added.

 

DECEMBER 12, 20224:19 PM

 

Louise Guillot

RENEW'S GUY VERHOFSTADT HITS BACK AT HUNGARIAN PM

 

Belgian MEP Guy Verhofstadt slammed Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán's mockery of the European Parliament's Qatar corruption scandal on Twitter.

 

Verhofstadt, a former president of the liberal group ALDE in the European Parliament, called on Orbán to “drop the Schadenfreude” — or malicious joy — adding that the European Parliament “will take immediate action to suspend, investigate and punish those responsible … while you’ve been blocking any anti-corruption efforts for decades.”

 

The European Commission has recommended suspending €‎7.5 billion from Hungary’s regular EU payouts on concerns over democratic backsliding in the country.

 

DECEMBER 12, 20224:14 PM

 

Suzanne Lynch

MARQUANDT REFUSED QATAR OFFERS

 

Erik Marquardt, the lead MEP dealing with the proposal to grant visa-free travel to Qatar as well as a number of other countries, told POLITICO he favors freezing the vote on the topic scheduled this week in Parliament. An announcement is expected this evening in Strasbourg. He says that over the last few months, he has been lobbied extensively by Qatari representatives, and was offered to travel to the World Cup — an offer he turned down.

 

“This is a serious issue, and we need to show that we are taking corruption reports seriously. Hence, I think we need to freeze the discussions on visa-free travel immediately.” The Commission recommended granting visa-free travel to Qatar earlier this year.

 

The German MEP also said that Eva Kaili, the MEP who was at the center of the scandal, approached him numerous times about the file. “She was more interested in Qatar than for example in Kuwait or other countries,” he says.

 

DECEMBER 12, 20224:09 PM

 

Nicolas Camut

INDEPENDENCE — OR LACK THEREOF

 

Inside the European Parliament building here in Strasbourg, chatter about the Qatari influence scandal is on everyone’s lips.

 

Journalists are buried in their phones, typing away. Officials whisper and walk swiftly in bundles through the dark corridors.

 

Outside the room where the Socialists & Democrats are gathering at 4 p.m., a bank of TV cameras is already arrayed. The group is in the eye of the storm after one of its most prominent MEPs, Eva Kaili, a Parliament vice president, has been implicated.

 

An hour after that, Parliament President Roberta Metsola will open a new session with an address to the full chamber. Excitement has been building over what she will say about the burgeoning scandal.

 

DECEMBER 12, 20223:32 PM

 

Wilhelmine Preussen

ORBAN TROLLS EU PARLIAMENT

 

Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán mocked the European Parliament on social media Monday as the assembly reeled from allegations that World Cup host Qatar paid for influence in Europe.

 

“Good morning to the European Parliament,” Orbán wrote on Twitter, posting an old photograph featuring former world leaders laughing and the words “And then they said … The EP is seriously concerned about corruption in Hungary.”

 

DECEMBER 12, 20223:31 PM

 

Samuel Stolton

LEAD QATARI MEP DENIES INVOLVEMENT

 

Renew MEP José Ramón Bauzá, president of the Qatari-EU friendship group in the European Parliament, has denied any involvement in the bribery allegations.

 

Ramón Bauzá, who also is also a member of the Parliament’s delegation for relations with the Arab Peninsula, tweeted over the weekend that he had “never received” or even been “offered” a single euro during his various engagements with Qatari officials.

 

The Spanish MEP has previously praised Qatar’s “contributions to advancing a more proposers [sic] and peaceful world.”

 

He also met Qatar's ambassador to the EU, Abdulrahman bin Mohammed Al Khulaifi, in 2020.

 

The Qatar-EU friendship group is a contingent of 13 MEPs from a range of European political groups. The organization is coordinated by the Qatar embassy in Brussels. The group also includes Italian MEP Dino Giarrusso, who told the Financial Times on Sunday that many lawmakers had been approached by Qatari officials since 2019.

 

DECEMBER 12, 20223:23 PM

 

Cory Bennett

THIS WHOLE COURT’S OUT OF ORDER!

 

The European Commission press room is typically a sleepy place of decorum. But on Monday it descended into a shouting match as journalists openly vented frustration over Ursula von der Leyen’s perceived dissembling.

 

“You didn’t answer a single one of the questions,” one reporter shouted as Dana Spinant, the European Commission’s deputy chief spokesperson, tried to close a session with reporters.

 

“This is not the way to organize a press conference here,” Spinant responded through a chorus of protest.

 

Emotions are running high as allegations of corruption and illegal Qatari influence sweep through Brussels, with police raids ensnaring prominent EU lawmakers. The logical follow-up question on Monday for von der Leyen, the Commission’s president: Who’s next? Is the Commission a part of this?

 

While the EU’s top executive took a few questions on the topic — diverging from the press conference’s ostensible subject, energy — she offered almost nothing substantive. So when Spinant moved to close down the event, the objections started flying: “Stonewalled,” “She did not answer our questions.”

 

“The president is capable,” one objected, of handling “ad hoc questions.”

 

Von der Leyen eventually stepped in. On whether the police had contacted anyone at the Commission, she said “I would have to ask my staff.” And she vowed officials were reviewing the lobbying transparency register to see if there was anything amiss.

 

“As long as there are no new informations we are at the status quo,” she said. “But indeed if any kind of new information occurs, we will have to act and react to that.”

 

DECEMBER 12, 20223:06 PM

Suzanne Lynch

and

Alistair Walker

SCHINAS UNDER SCRUTINY

 

Speaking at the European Commission’s midday briefing, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen did not respond to a question about European Commission Vice-President Margaritis Schinas, who attended the opening ceremony of the World Cup in Qatar on behalf of the Commission.

 

Schinas, the commissioner from Greece, has been criticized by MEPs for his tweets on Qatar in recent months. In one recent tweet, he praised Qatar for “considerable and tangible progress on labour reform,” calling for those reforms to be sustained.

 

Schinas was centrally involved in the European Commission’s decision to recommend lifting visa requirements for Qatar and Kuwait in April, which would waive visas for Qataris traveling to the EU for up to 90 days in any 180-day period — either for business, tourism or family purposes.

 

A vote on the scheme was due in the European Parliament this week, but two Parliament sources have told POLITICO that the vote will most likely be pulled, and instead, the file will be sent back to the committee stage.

 

A spokesperson for the European Commission defended Schinas’ attendance at the event.

 

“As vice-president responsible for sport, European Commission Vice-President Margaritis Schinas was invited to the World Cup 2022 opening game together with UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres and IOC President Thomas Bach who were also present,” the spokesperson said in a statement.

 

The spokesperson also noted that the Commission’s assessment of Qatar’s Labor reforms “Mirrored exactly the ILO (International Labor Organization) reports,” adding that Vice-President Schinas started his visit to Qatar with a dedicated briefing from the ILO representative.