In Belgium, the police have suspected for a long time that the Gulf state tried to influence the financial and political decisions of the European Parliament “by paying large sums of money or offering gifts to persons who have a significant political or strategic position in the European Parliament”.
The prosecutor does not say the name of the country, but the suspicions are believed to be related probably to Qatar (you will switch to another service).
On Friday, the police arrested, among other things, the Greek vice-speaker of the European Parliament Eva Kailin and the former Italian MEP By Pier Antonio Panzer as part of a broad corruption and bribery investigation.
“It’s time to establish an ethics board”
– This is an unprecedentedly serious case in the European Parliament. In many ways, the Parliament itself must take care that this is not pressed with wool in any way, says the MEP Heidi Hautala (green) Up.
Like Kaili, Hautala is one of the 14 Speakers of the Parliament. He says that he has not encountered bribery attempts.
According to Hautala, members of parliament have an obligation to declare their affiliations and, for example, the gifts they receive, but compliance with the rules is not sufficiently monitored.
– We have the opportunity to establish an investigative committee, which would end up making reports on how the parliament’s own practices and rules should be tightened so that this kind of corruption is simply not possible.
“Inappropriate foreign influence” on some MEPs has been known in Parliament for a long time, says Hautala. According to him, the issue can no longer be ignored.
– The European Parliament lacks an ethics board that would comprehensively and consistently review its own rules, their compliance and sanctions. Maybe now is the time to finally establish one.
“Corruption must also be eradicated from one’s own circle”
MEP Miapetra Kumpula-Natri (sd.) tells that he is relying on media information, but describes his mood as shocked.
– The parliament must make a really strict policy immediately and help the Belgian police get clarity on the matter. We have to eradicate the corruption that we talk about so much, also from our own circle.
Kumpula-Natri reminds that efforts have been made to increase the transparency of even legal lobbying in the European Parliament. He himself says that he openly tells about all his meetings with lobbyists.
– That too [lobbareiden kanssa] must keep a cool head. There is no direct bribe [minulle] ever offered.
With a high probability, the corruption suspicions related to Qatar and the European Parliament sound particularly worrying to Kumpula-Natri, as the parliament regularly tries to highlight international human rights violations.
– It seems unbelievable that they are trying to buy money to cover up human rights violations. To a Finn, it seems completely outrageous. Work must be done to ensure that the European Parliament never gets involved in this kind of thing after this.
“What Qatar wanted to hear”
The SDP represented by Kumpula-Natri belongs to the S&D group of the EU Parliament, from which Kaili has now been expelled. S&D announced Kaili’s dismissal from the parliamentary group late last night.
– The group’s management has made a straightforward decision that the vice-chairman will be removed from the group pending an investigation. The European Parliament must be helpful here and give the police the information they need to clean up their own activities, says Kumpula-Natri.
In the media has been reminded (you switch to another service), that at the end of November, Eva Kaili spoke in a very understanding tone about Qatar in the plenary session of the Parliament and praised its progress in improving workers’ rights. Especially the status of foreign workers, which can be equated to slavery, has been strongly criticized during the World Cup.
– If it is about Qatar, [Kailin puhe] was pretty straight forward for sure what Qatar wanted to hear. It will certainly become clear whether this influencing company already had such a very direct effect on how the representative was wanted to speak, says Heidi Hautala.
Sources: Reuters, AFP
You can discuss the topic until Saturday 11.12. until 11 p.m.