In this context, politicians from the Union and the Greens questioned a planned visa liberalization for Qatar on Sunday. The Greek Vice-President of the European Parliament (EP), Eva Kaili, is said to be among those arrested. Referring to Kaili, German EP Vice-President Katarina Barley told Reuters news agency: “The Social Democratic EP Group has already suspended her and will also request her vote out as Parliament Vice-President.” Greens co-leader Terry Reintke told Reuters TV that Kaili must step down immediately. The public prosecutor’s office in Brussels announced that there had been searches of a second MEP on Saturday evening. Qatar, which Kaili praised, has vehemently denied allegations of corruption.
“The allegations in the room are severe: a member of parliament who tries to influence parliamentary decisions for money,” said Daniel Caspary, chairman of the CDU/CSU group in the conservative EPP group in the EP, to Reuters. “If the allegations are true, then I expect a quick resignation.” He also called for the European socialists to be enlightened: “Are other members of parliament or employees involved? Who might have known?”
EU Economy Commissioner Paolo Gentiloni told Italian TV channel Rai 3 that the case appeared “very serious”. “If it were confirmed that someone took money to influence the opinion of the European Parliament, it would really be one of the most dramatic corruption stories in recent years,” he added.
ARRESTS AND SEARCHES
According to media reports, six suspects were arrested by Belgian authorities on Friday. During the search of 16 houses, 600,000 euros in cash were also secured. According to the public prosecutor’s office, four of those arrested are now accused of corruption, money laundering, formation of a criminal organization and attempted influence from abroad. According to the Belgian media, the Gulf state could be behind the allegations of corruption, since Kaili had mainly praised Qatar. However, the Foreign Ministry in Qatar sharply rejected this. “Any connection by the Qatari government to the reported allegations is baseless and gravely uninformed.” Qatar operates in accordance with applicable international laws and regulations.
Still, the incident could have repercussions for the country. Because the interior committee of the parliament had spoken out in favor of visa liberalization for Qatar. But now there is criticism of it. “If the EP was possibly influenced with money from forces from abroad, the procedure in Parliament must first be stopped,” Caspary demanded. “In this situation, of course, there can be no visa liberalization for Qatar,” wrote Green MEP Erik Marquardt on Twitter. “The planned vote on this will either be referred back to the Home Affairs Committee to draw the right conclusions, or we will vote against visa liberalization as a parliament.”
BARLEY: NEVER EXCLUDE AN INDIVIDUAL CRIMINAL CASE
The Greens parliamentary group leader Reintke called for changes to the transparency rules for the EP. For example, representatives from third countries such as Qatar should be included in the lobby register. This creates more transparency when it comes to who MEPs are meeting with in their capacity as MEPs, she told Reuters.
SPD politician Barley, on the other hand, emphasized that the transparency rules in the EP are already very extensive. “It’s about an apparently criminal individual case that you can never rule out,” she said. Barley suggested that the Bundestag should look at the European rules. “The Bundestag could also consider obtaining information about who is lobbying in which areas of proposed legislation,” Barley added. The European transparency rules are “quite more progressive than is the case in Germany at the federal level,” she added.
The rules would also apply to all three European institutions, i.e. Parliament, Commission and Council. Anyone who wants to meet a commissioner, for example, must be registered in the lobby register and have also provided information there about which dossier he or she is dealing with, how many employees there are and how high their own budget is, said Barley.
Berlin/Brussels (Reuters)