Étiquette : European Parliament

  • Qatargate: The document that inspired Panzeri’s action

    Tags : Qatargate, Moroccogate, European Parliament, bribery, corruption, Antonio Panzeri,

    Entitled “Action Plan for the European Parliament”, is a “confidential” advice from the mission of the Kingdom of Morocco afore the EU. Ambassador Menouar Alem proposes to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Rabat a abundant operation advised to “promote those absorbed in Morocco” aural the European Parliament.

    A abundant plan which includes the accumulation of “information, promotion, and antechamber activities”. The certificate is anachronous January 4, 2013, about ten years afore the Belgian tax analysis into many politicians accused of accepting bribes from Rabat’s abstruse casework to access the decisions of the EU Parliament. A aggregation for advisers is led by Pier Antonio Panzeri, MEP of the PD (and after of Art.1) until 2019.

    The analysis began which year, about a accomplished alternation of classified abstracts could booty alternate the alpha of this adventure at least one of each. The cardinal of the Italian politician, in fact, is mentioned many times in a alternation of cables acquaint online back 2015: they are the Maroc-leaks, which acknowledge the lobbying assignment agitated out all through the apple by Rabat. And which could explain why in 2019, afterwards finishing his appellation as an MEP, Panzeri charcoal in Brussels, area he created the NGO Fight Impunity, which concluded up at the centermost of the analysis by Belgian magistrates which acknowledge the lobbying assignment agitated out all over the apple by Rabat.

    And which could explain why in 2019, afterwards finishing his appellation as an MEP, Panzeri charcoal in Brussels, area he created the NGO Fight Impunity, which concluded up at the centermost of the analysis by Belgian magistrates. which acknowledge the lobbying assignment agitated out all over the apple by Rabat. And which could explain why in 2019, afterwards finishing his appellation as an MEP, Panzeri charcoal in Brussels, area he created the NGO Fight Impunity, which concluded up at the centermost of the analysis by Belgian magistrates.

    The Moroccan leaks were put online by an bearding who has never been identified, accepted as “Chris Coleman”: he could be a alienated official from Rabat, an Edward Snowden of the Maghreb, or the bake-apple of a action by the Algerian casework (as claimed by the Moroccan). The actuality of the cables, however, is not questioned, afterwards abundant journalistic investigations. Also because it has never been challenged by the Moroccan government.

    That, in accordance to comes off and acknowledging the Popes, is the columnist of a antechamber plan to access the decisions of the highest institutions of the EU on the book of Western Sahara, account of the animosity amid the Kerifian kingdom, which was once bedeviled by the force of the above Spanish antecedents in 1976, and Algeria, which accidentally supports the Saharawi ability movement, the Polisario Front. But Moroccans are also actual alert to the bartering agreements with the EU, value further than 35,000 million euros per year in 2020.

    “Panzeri assured us of their support” – The negotiations which will advance to the chargeless barter acceding began in 2013, the aforementioned aeon in which Moroccans are reading their ultra-secret Action Plan. It is a abridgment of the “information, promotion, and antechamber tools”, so it says, which the North African commonwealth will arrange for the “promotion of Moroccan interests in the European Parliament in 2013”. The missions are abundant by points, with the cardinal of Panzeri in the first paragraph, of which it is proposed to “support the abutting Moroccan-European deadlines” by accumulative meetings, seminars, and trips. The official of the Brussels admiral declared which Panzeri, arch of the European Parliament appointment for the Maghreb, “favorably accustomed these initiatives and assured us of his abutment in their application.”

    A Moroccan plan in the EU Parliament anachronous alternate to 2013 – The plan also explained that, in appearance of the letters on humans rights in Western Sahara, British MEP Charles Tannock “calls for vigilance”. “The Mission has already accomplished an action to activate and put burden on answered speaker. Another administration has been agitated out by the MEP Jean Roata (France, EPP, affiliate of the aggregation of the Amistad), lately appointed carnality admiral of the subcommittee on Human Rights of the EP”.

    In the aftermost points, the instruments of aldermanic and acceptable address overlap: “Our embassies are arrive to advance often links with the MEPs of the EU Member States, as able-bodied as with the parties of which they are members, with the end of sensitizing them consistently on the Morocco-EU affiliation and anticipating the accomplishments of our adversaries”.

    A Moroccan-European aldermanic “coalition” is again envisaged which “can function as a burden arrangement fabricated up of Moroccan MEPs, deputies, and admiral in adjustment to avert the absolute interests of the Kingdom”. Ultimately, a negro abstaining white got dressed from the conception of an agency of centralized pressure: “It will accord to reinforcing the access of Morocco in the institutions of the EU, in accurate in the PE. Said agency could act in abutment of diplomatic-parliamentary action”. Moroccan assembly and councilors in adjustment to avert the absolute interests of the Kingdom”.

    Ultimately, a negro abstaining white got dressed from the conception of an agency of centralized pressure: “It will accord to reinforcing the access of Morocco in the institutions of the EU, in accurate in the PE. Said agency could act in abutment of diplomatic-parliamentary action”. Moroccan assembly and councilors in adjustment to avert the absolute interests of the Kingdom”. Ultimately, a negro abstaining white got dressed from the conception of an agency of centralized pressure: “It will accord to reinforcing the access of Morocco in the institutions of the EU, in accurate in the PE. Said agency could act in abutment of diplomatic-parliamentary action”.

    Plan-2-1Download

    #Qatargate #Moroccogate #European_Parliament #Bribery #Corruption #Antonio_Panzeri

  • Morocco-gate : The bargaining chip is the Saharawi people

    Tags : Qatargate, European Parliament, Antonio Panzeri, Eva Kaili, Marocleaks, Western Sahara,

    The bargaining chip between Morocco and MEPs is the Saharawi people

    LUCA ATTANASIO

    At the centre of the Moroccan strand of the scandal that has engulfed the European Parliament is the Western Sahara issue. Rabat aimed to bribe parliamentarians and officials to circumvent the EU Court of Justice ruling safeguarding the Saharawis’ right to profits from the resources of their territory.

    At the centre of the Moroccan strand of the scandal that has engulfed the European Parliament is the Western Sahara issue.

    Rabat aimed to bribe parliamentarians and officials to circumvent the EU Court of Justice ruling safeguarding the Saharawis’ right to profits for the resources of their territory.

    « Something always happens in the European parliament, » explains Fatima Mahfoud, Polisario’s representative in Italy, « that interrupts proceedings favourable to our demands. And so far, as the Maroc-Leaks show, Che Panzeri was crucial in Morocco’s lobbying in the EU.

    For Noam Chomsky, it was they in October 2010 who triggered the Arab Springs. Ahead of the Tunisians, the Saharawis brought 20,000 activists to Gdeim Izik, in the middle of the southern Moroccan desert, to demonstrate peacefully and demand respect for rights from Rabat.

    The ‘Sahrawi spring’ was bloodily repressed by the Moroccan police forces and their cause sank again amidst the utter disregard of the world.

    Today, the issue of Western Sahara, Africa’s last colony by Africans, resurfaces for yet another chapter of rights frustration.

    A bargaining chip, the Saharawis are said to be the sacrificial victims of shady dealings between European parliamentarians and Moroccan officials interested in maintaining the status quo of EU-Morocco trade put in serious jeopardy by an EU Court of Justice ruling in 2016.

    THE COURT REJECTS EU-MOROCCO AGREEMENTS

    The legal body had rejected the trade agreements between Europe and Rabat precisely because of the area of Western Sahara, which is rich in phosphates and very rich in fish, and demanded that any future signature be made with the consent of the Polisario Front, the political body representing the Saharawis.

    The Court’s ruling, however, was substantially bypassed by the European Commission, which re-proposed the contents of the previous text without any substantial changes and, above all, without involving the Saharawis. And when in 2019 the texts of the new agreement were approved by a large majority in parliament, the Polisario lodged an appeal and received a new assent from the Court, which in 2021 invalidated all agreements. Despite this, the parliament again approved the trade agreement with Morocco and the new appeal lodged by Polisario is expected to be answered in 2023.

    For years, one wondered how it was possible for the European parliament and commission to circumvent rulings of the European Court of Justice. Today, the first answers are emerging. For some time now, the powerful Moroccan lobbying system has been on the lookout for MEPs who tend to be close by political vocation to oppressed peoples or those deprived of fundamental rights in order to convince them, through licit and illicit methods, to shift support and votes in favour of Rabat’s interests. In this way, they allow a stable political and commercial relationship between the EU and Morocco and de facto erase the demands, ratified in this case by the Court of Justice, of the Saharawis.

    ‘Something always happens in the European Parliament,’ explains Fatima Mahfoud, Polisario’s representative in Italy, ‘that interrupts proceedings favourable to our demands. We had a last example last 14 December: following the Qatar gate a motion was voted to limit lobbying and the left tabled an amendment to extend it to Morocco as well, but the overwhelming majority voted against it’.

    THE ‘FRIENDS’ OF MOROCCO
    Among the most active in guiding the choices of the parliament and the committee is, as is well known, Pier Antonio Panzeri, head of the EU-Morocco joint committee from 2010 to 2014 and president in his third term 2014-2019, of the delegation for relations with the Maghreb and the Arab Maghreb Union, including the EU-Morocco, EU-Tunisia and EU-Algeria joint parliamentary committees.

    His relations with Abderrahim Atmoun, Morocco’s ambassador to Poland, and a man who exerted great pressure on the EU to avert the downsizing of Morocco-Europe trade relations, as well as those between Moroccan emissaries and parliamentarians, among whom, as the Belgian judiciary would have us believe, in addition to Panzeri, there would be Cozzolino and Vice-President Kalili, are now being examined by the investigators. That Panzeri was crucial in lobbying Morocco in the EU is demonstrated by many of the texts revealed by Maroc-leaks.

    cv-mogherini-2014-1Download

    One among many, from 2014, from the Moroccan Foreign Ministry’s Directorate for Relations with the EU reads in one passage, ‘Federica Mogherini … will lead European diplomacy …Coming from the Pd, which supported the motion against Morocco in the Italian parliament, she has adopted positions favourable to the separatists’ arguments on the Sahara issue. It is therefore necessary to act with Morocco’s friends (senior European officials and members of the Socialists & Democrats party, in particular Pargneaux and Panzeri) to make her aware of this issue… »

    THE SAHARAWI NATION ONLY FOR THE SOUTHERN HEMISPHERE

    For half the world – the African Union and almost all African countries, many American and Asian countries – the desert people, settled for centuries between southern Morocco, Mauritania and the Atlantic Ocean, is a nation – the Saharawi Arab Democratic Republic (Rasd) – with a government and a parliament (in exile in Tindouf, Algeria, ed). For the other planetary hemicycle, however, it is no more than the extreme southern offshoot of Morocco. Spanish Sahara until 1975, the early 1960s saw the establishment of united independence groups under the Frente Polisario banner.

    The organisation, Spain having left the scene in 1976, presented its demands for self-determination to the United Nations. But it was Morocco that took advantage of the political vacuum left by Spain: on 6 November 1975, King Hassan II ordered more than 300,000 of his subjects, protected by 20,000 soldiers, to occupy the region to the south.

    Since then, the people of the desert have experienced exile and gradual fragmentation: a large portion lives in what Rabat considers to be its last southern region; another, much smaller portion lives in a strip of impassable land conquered by the Polisario army, called Liberated Territories, beyond the longest wall in the world, 2,700 kilometres, erected by Morocco and littered with mines; finally, about 200,000 people populate the refugee camps of Tindouf, Algeria.

    After decades of conflict, which Polisario faced with the support of Algeria, a UN agreement was reached in 1991 that, in addition to a truce, provided for the immediate organisation of a referendum on self-determination. More than 30 years have passed and that consultation is still waiting to be held.

    The demands of the Sahrawi people continue to be frustrated even when decisive bodies such as the EU Court of Justice accepts and supports them.

    « We are going to the January congress, » Mahfoud said again, « in a state of war after Morocco violated the ceasefire in 2020, and we learn with great sadness that we have been used as a bargaining chip by parliamentarians from an institution on which we put a lot of trust. We hope that this scandal will finally open the eyes of many’.

    One among many, from 2014, from the Moroccan Foreign Ministry’s Directorate for Relations with the EU reads in one passage, ‘Federica Mogherini … will lead European diplomacy …Coming from the Pd, which supported the motion against Morocco in the Italian parliament, she has adopted positions favourable to the separatists’ arguments on the Sahara issue. It is therefore necessary to act with Morocco’s friends (senior European officials and members of the Socialists & Democrats party, in particular Pargneaux and Panzeri) to make her aware of this issue… »

    THE SAHARAWI NATION ONLY FOR THE SOUTHERN HEMISPHERE

    For half the world – the African Union and almost all African countries, many American and Asian countries – the desert people, settled for centuries between southern Morocco, Mauritania and the Atlantic Ocean, is a nation – the Saharawi Arab Democratic Republic (Rasd) – with a government and a parliament (in exile in Tindouf, Algeria, ed). For the other planetary hemicycle, however, it is no more than the extreme southern offshoot of Morocco. Spanish Sahara until 1975, the early 1960s saw the establishment of united independence groups under the Frente Polisario banner.

    The organisation, Spain having left the scene in 1976, presented its demands for self-determination to the United Nations. But it was Morocco that took advantage of the political vacuum left by Spain: on 6 November 1975, King Hassan II ordered more than 300,000 of his subjects, protected by 20,000 soldiers, to occupy the region to the south.

    Since then, the people of the desert have experienced exile and gradual fragmentation: a large portion lives in what Rabat considers to be its last southern region; another, much smaller portion lives in a strip of impassable land conquered by the Polisario army, called Liberated Territories, beyond the longest wall in the world, 2,700 kilometres, erected by Morocco and littered with mines; finally, about 200,000 people populate the refugee camps of Tindouf, Algeria.

    After decades of conflict, which Polisario faced with the support of Algeria, a UN agreement was reached in 1991 that, in addition to a truce, provided for the immediate organisation of a referendum on self-determination. More than 30 years have passed and that consultation is still waiting to be held.

    The demands of the Sahrawi people continue to be frustrated even when decisive bodies such as the EU Court of Justice accepts and supports them.

    « We are going to the January congress, » Mahfoud said again, « in a state of war after Morocco violated the ceasefire in 2020, and we learn with great sadness that we have been used as a bargaining chip by parliamentarians from an institution on which we put a lot of trust. We hope that this scandal will finally open the eyes of many’.

    Domani, 19/12/2022

    #Qatargate #Maroc #Parlement_Européen #Eva_Kaili #Antonio_Panzeri #Francesco_Giorgi #Qatar #Marocleaks #Mohamed_Belahrach #Moroccogate #DGED #Yassine_Mansouri

  • Bribes for Qatar: investigations in Milan into the ‘friends’ of Doha money ring

    Tags : Qatargate, Morocco, Antonio Panzeri, Eva Kaili, Franceso Giorgi, corruption, European Parliament,

    by Giuseppe Guastella
    For now, the Deputy Prosecutor Fabio De Pasquale, head of the « international affairs » pool, is moving by providing judicial assistance to colleagues in Brussels who have asked to hear witnesses

    If Panzeri’s Fight Impunity was the means through which to bribe those in the European Parliament who could ’embellish’ the image of Morocco and Qatar with his words, if through it the money ended up mainly to Italians, MPs or not, then it is in Italy that it should be sought and possibly found. The first objective of the investigation by Milan’s Deputy Prosecutor Fabio De Pasquale is precisely this. For the time being, the magistrate in charge of the « international affairs » pool is moving forward by providing judicial assistance to his colleagues in Brussels who have asked to hear witnesses, acquire bank accounts and verify whether there are people connected to Antonio Panzeri who may have received money from his NGO, which, formally committed to the defence of human rights, seems to work more to protect the interests of Rabat and Doha, according to the few, meagre official allegations that are known. And there are already the first results. And it is not excluded that the Milan Public Prosecutor’s Office could open its own file.

    Milanese investigative sources speak of ‘substantial’ funds deposited in the first current accounts under investigation. Qatar would have needed to avoid seeing its image tarnished by the debate on human rights violations on its territory, especially those of the workers who died in their hundreds in accidents during the construction of the World Cup. Excessive attention would have meant the risk of boycotts, defection of athletes or even entire national teams or, as happened, demonstrations by some footballers, such as those embryonic and immediately crushed by FIFA in the very first matches.

    The fact is that the World Cup is coming to an end and the noble themes of human rights have been drowned out by the shouts of the fans. Morocco has been pursuing the same path of improving its image for years. On two issues: the treatment of the poor immigrants who pass through its territory from the Sahel on their way to Europe; the problems with the independence groups on the border with Algeria linked to Rabat’s aims of extending its territory eastwards into the Sahara. Panzeri’s action, therefore, should have been precisely aimed at creating fertile ground among the parliamentarians he frequented during the ten years he was a member of parliament for the PD and then for Articolo 1, also through the dense network of their collaborators. Among them is Francesco Giorgi, the 35-year-old sailing instructor from Abbiategrasso whom Panzeri took with him as a collaborator in Brussels when he was a Member of Parliament, guaranteeing him the important salary that is granted by the institution to these figures. When Panzeri was not re-elected in 2019, Giorgi moved on to do the same job with Eva Kaili, who later also became his partner; they now have a 22-month-old daughter. Envied as the most beautiful couple in the European Parliament, the two are now in jail with Panzeri in the investigation where they are accused of criminal conspiracy, corruption and money laundering.

    Corruption and money laundering: these are offences that are usually committed with the passing of goods and money. In Panzeri’s house, 600,000 euro in cash were found, another 750,000 in the beautiful house in Brussels where Kaili and Giorgi lived until their arrest and which the latter, also to save his partner’s life, confessed were only his. But investigators suspect that the loot is not limited to this mountain of cash notes. The offshoots of the money, other than the one seized, could have travelled from Belgium to Italy. Not only in the possession of Panzeri and Giorgi, but also of other people (the offices of 19 collaborators of parliamentarians were seized and sealed in Brussels, many of them Italian). Finding them by following the flow of is the task of De Pasquale and the Guardia di Finanza.

    While the arrests were being carried out in Brussels, Panzeri’s wife and daughter were arrested in Calusco d’Adda (Bergamo) on 9 December. They are now under house arrest pending the hearing in which the Brescia Court of Appeal will decide tomorrow whether to hand them over to the Belgian judiciary. At the same time, their home and Giorgi’s home in Milan were searched, where another 20,000 euro in cash was found, and the office of an accountant in Opera where, however, nothing suspicious was found.

    Cronache agencia giornalistica,17 december 2022

    #Morocco #Qatargate #Bribes #Corruption #Eva_Kaili #Antonio_Panzeri

  • Qatar corruption scandal at the European Parliament

    Tags : Qatargate, Morocco, European parliament, Eva Kaili, Antonio Panzeri, Francesco Giorgi, corruption,

    The Qatar corruption scandal at the European Parliament, also known as Qatargate, is an ongoing political scandal in which politicians, political staffers, lobbyists, civil servants and their families are alleged to have been involved in corruption, money laundering and organised crime involving the state of Qatar in exchange for influence at the European Parliament. Qatar denies the allegations. Law enforcement authorities in Belgium, Italy and Greece seized €1.5 million in cash, confiscated computers and mobile phones, and charged four individuals with the alleged offences.

    Investigation, raids and arrests

    In July 2022, the Central Office for the Repression of Corruption (French: Office central pour la répression de la corruption, OCRC, Dutch: Centrale Dienst voor de Bestrijding van Corruptie, CDBC), a unit of the Belgian Federal Police, opened an investigation into an alleged criminal organisation. The investigation was led by the investigating magistrate Michel Claise.

    Acting on the investigation, on 9 December 2022, Belgian police executed 20 raids at 19 different addresses across Brussels in connection with the conspiracy and made eight arrests across Belgium and Italy. The homes and offices of the suspects were searched, including offices within the premises of the European Parliament buildings in Brussels. In line with the Belgian Constitution, the President of the European Parliament, Roberta Metsola, was required to return from her home in Malta to be present for the search at the home of Eva Kaili, who has diplomatic immunity as an MEP and a Vice-President of the European Parliament.

    Following the raids at Kaili’s home, her father was later arrested as he tried to flee the Sofitel hotel at Place Jourdan in Brussels after being tipped off about the raids. Investigators found a suitcase with « several hundred thousand euros » on his person as he attempted to flee.

    Included in the raids were locations linked to Pier Antonio Panzeri, an Italian former MEP. Upon searching his home, police found a large quantity of cash in his « well stocked safe ». At the same time investigators raided the offices of the international NGO Fight Impunity, an organisation set up to promote the fight against impunity for serious violations of human rights and crimes against humanity, of which Panzeri is the president.

    After the conclusion of the Brussels raids, police had arrested Eva Kaili; Antonio Panzeri; Francesco Giorgi, Kaili’s husband and an advisor of the Italian MEP Andrea Cozzolino; Alexandros Kailis, Kaili’s father and former Greek politician; Luca Visentini, general secretary of the International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC); Niccolò Figa-Talamanca, Secretary-General of the NGO No Peace Without Justice; and an unnamed assistant of the Italian MEP Alessandra Moretti. Alexandros Kailis was released from custody and Visentini was conditionally released. €600,000 in cash was reportedly found at Panzeri’s home with additional cash being found at Kaili’s father’s home, his hotel room and the home shared by Kaili and Giorgi. In total, the combined amount of cash found in the raids totalled €1.5million. Following Kaili’s arrest she was detained at the Prison de Saint-Gilles until her transfer after five days to a prison in Haren, Brussels.

    In addition to the searches of properties belonging to those who were arrested, searches were also carried out at the homes of four Parliamentary assistants (Federica Garbagnati, Giuseppe Meroni, Donatella Rostagno and Davide Zoggia), among others, but these raids did not result in arrests. Garbagnati, Rostagno and Zoggia are assistants to the MEPs Alessandra Moretti, Marie Arena and Pietro Bartolo, while Meroni works as assistant to Lara Comi. Other raids took place at the homes of two undisclosed advisors and one European Parliament official.

    As the raids were being carried out in Brussels, the Italian State Police executed two European Arrest Warrants across Italy. Maria Colleoni, Panzeri’s wife, was arrested at their family home in Calusco d’Adda, close to Bergamo, Italy, and his daughter, Silvia Panzeri, was arrested later that evening in Milan. Both women were transferred to a Bergamo prison for detention. Shortly thereafter, Italian authorities carried out a raid at the Italian home of Giorgi where an additional €20,000 in cash was confiscated. As of 14 December, the two women had been released under house arrest to a property in Lombardy.

    The European Arrest Warrant revealed that the charges against Panzeri also relate to similar charges involving gift received from the state of Morocco.

    The day following the raids, on 10 December, a further search was carried out at the home of the vice chair of the European Parliament’s delegation for relations with the Arab Peninsula, the Belgian MEP Marc Tarabella; Tarabella was not arrested.

    On 12 December 2022, it was announced that the Greek Anti-Money Laundering Authority had frozen all of Kaili’s assets and those of close family members. This includes all of Kaili’s bank accounts, safes, companies and any other financial assets. Of particular interest to the authorities, according to the head of the Anti-Money Laundering Authority, is a newly established estate agency in Kolonaki, an upmarket neighbourhood of Athens.

    As the European Parliament convened for the first time following the scandal, on 13 December 2022 at its seat in Strasbourg in France, the offices of Pietro Bartolo MEP and the Parliamentary official Mychelle Rieu were both sealed by investigators.

    On 15 December the European Public Prosecutor’s Office (EPPO) requested the European Parliament to lift its diplomatic immunity from Kaili and her fellow Greek MEP Maria Spyraki; the EPPO stated that the request was based on an investigative report received from the European Anti-Fraud Office (OLAF) regarding « suspicion of fraud detrimental to the EU budget, in relation to the management of the parliamentary allowance », specifically regarding money paid to parliamentary assistants.

    Trial and prosecution

    The four charged suspects, Kaili, Panzeri, Giorgi and Figà-Talamanca, were scheduled to appear at the Palais de Justice, Brussels, the country’s primary law courts, on 14 December for arraignment proceedings. Three of the four suspects appeared in court, but strike action by prison staff prevented Kaili’s appearance; her appearance was rescheduled for 22 December 2022. Panzeri and Giorgi were both remanded into custody pending further investigation. Figà-Talamanca was released from custody pending further investigation on the condition that he wear an electronic monitoring ankle bracelet.

    On 15 December 2022, Giorgi confessed to having been bribed by Qatari officials to influence the European Parliament’s decisions.

    Reaction

    Immediately following the arrests, strong reactions of condemnation of Vice-President Kaili came from around the European Union. After the story was first reported by Belgian media, the President of the European Parliament, Roberta Metsola, stated that the European Parliament had been complying with an ongoing investigation, without specifying its nature. Immediately following the arrests, both PASOK, Kaili’s political party in Greece, and the Socialists and Democrats Group inside the European Parliament announced Kaili’s suspension from their respective parties. Two days following the arrests, Metsola suspended Kaili’s responsibilities and powers as a Vice-President of the European Parliament. In a vote of the full chamber, Kaili was officially removed as vice president by a supermajority.

    At the opening of the first meeting of the European Parliament following the raids, on 12 December President Metsola announced that all work with Qatar would be suspended. At the same meeting the Greens–European Free Alliance and Renew Europe both called for an inquiry committee to be set up by the European Parliament. The suspension of Parliamentary business at this time is significant as it comes just three days before the Parliament was due to vote on introducing a visa-free travel agreement with Qatar and other countries. This resulted in the vote on visa-free travel to Ecuador, Kuwait, and Oman also being cancelled. In addition, a major and controversial air transit agreement that would have allowed Qatar Airways unlimited access to the EU market was put on hold after warning that Qatar may have interfered in Parliament’s internal deliberations on the agreement. During the negotiations there was criticism by EU member states that the agreement, negotiated by the Parliament’s transport committee, was unduly favourable to Qatar. Later the full chamber voted to suspend all work on files involving Qatar in a 541–2 vote, with three abstentions.

    Ahead of the opening of the plenary discussion several MEPs in the Socialists and Democrats Group stepped down from positions within the Parliament. Marc Tarabella suspended himself from the S&D group entirely, Marie Arena stood down as the Chair of the Parliament’s human rights committee, Pietro Bartolo suspended his position as group spokesman on visa liberalisation and Andrea Cozzolino suspended his role as group spokesman on urgencies. Tarabella was later suspended by his national party, the Walloon Socialist Party.

    The chair of the Parliamentary EU–Qatar Friendship Group, José Ramón Bauzá MEP, announced the suspension of the group following the revelation. In a statement Bauzá said that he was doing so « in view of the very serious events of the last few days, and until we get to the bottom of the matter ».

    The European People’s Party (EPP), the largest political group inside the Parliament, took the decision to suspend all foreign policy work relating to all matters external to the European Union until the integrity of the procedure could be ensured. The EPP encouraged other parties to follow suit.

    Dino Giarrusso MEP reported that he and others had been approached by Qatari officials many times: « They were hoping to improve the country’s reputation especially in the run-up to the FIFA World Cup ». The behaviour of some MEPs regarding Qatar had already been the subject of criticism even before the scandal began: a resolution by Manon Aubry condemning the exploitation of migrant workers in Qatar had stalled in the Parliament for more than one year before passing, due to opposition from the S&D and EPP group.

    After the scandal broke out, several media organisations noted that Kaili had visited Qatar one month before the scandal, meeting with the Qatari Minister of Labour Ali bin Samikh Al Marri; upon her return to Brussels, she had praised Qatar as a « frontrunner in labour rights » in a speech in front of the European Parliament.

    Ursula von der Leyen, President of the European Commission, accused Qatar of seeking to buy influence in the European Parliament chamber and that it was of the « utmost concern ». Von der Leyen called for a body to be created to uphold the rules on integrity and ethics across all EU institutions. The former President of the European Parliament and current European Commissioner responsible for Foreign Affairs and Security, Josep Borrell, was quoted as saying « the news is very worrisome, very, very worrisome. We are facing some events, some facts that certainly worry me. [We] have to act according to not only to the facts but to the … evidence. I am sure you understand that these are very grave accusations. » The European Ombudsman, Emily O’Reilly, was, however critical of the response of Von der Leyen and fellow politicians and institutions, highlighting the lack of progress shown by von der Leyen following her pledge that transparency would be a core part of her mandate when she became European Commission President. O’Reilly called for a body to be created with real investigatory and sanctions powers.

    The Belgian Prime Minister Alexander De Croo was also critical of the European institutions in his response, stating that « Belgian justice is doing what, at first sight, the European Parliament hasn’t done. The European Parliament has a lot of means to regulate itself. It turns out that this is largely a system of auto-control based on voluntary efforts, which has clearly not been sufficient. »

    Belgian justice is doing what, at first sight, the European Parliament hasn’t done. […] the European Parliament has a lot of means to regulate itself. It turns out that this is largely a system of auto-control based on voluntary efforts, which has clearly not been sufficient.

    —Alexander De Croo, Prime Minister of Belgium, 13 December 2022
    Annalena Baerbock, the German Minister for Foreign Affairs, highlighted that the scandal is leading to concerns from citizens and affects the credibility and legitimacy of the institutions of the European Union.

    Reactions also came from European civil society organisations. Transparency International described the incident as « the most egregious case » of alleged corruption the European Parliament has ever seen. The founder of the Good Lobby commented that « [w]hatever its final outcome, [the] Qatar ‘corruption’ scandal has unveiled an inconvenient, and for most Europeans already obvious, truth. Money does buy influence in the EU », and that « [t]he EU Parliament and most of its members have historically resisted stricter integrity rules and [an] effective enforcement system. »

    As news broke of the investigation, the honorary board of the implicated NGO, Fight Impunity, resigned en masse. The board members included high-profile European policymakers including Federica Mogherini (a former EU High Representative in the Juncker Commission), Bernard Cazeneuve (formerly Prime Minister of France), Dimitris Avramopoulos (a former EU Commissioner for Migration, Home Affairs and Citizenship in the Juncker Commission), Cecilia Wikström (a former Chair of the European Parliament Committee on Petitions) and Emma Bonino (a former EU Commissioner for Health and Consumer Protection in the Santer Commission). The honorary board has no executive or managerial role, so there is no suspicion or accusations against any member of the board.

    The Qatari Mission to the European Union said in a statement, « The State of Qatar categorically rejects any attempts to associate it with accusations of misconduct. Any association of the Qatari government with the reported claims is baseless and gravely misinformed. The State of Qatar works through institution-to-institution engagement and operates in full compliance with international laws and regulations. »

    Kaili has also denied any wrongdoing in the incident. Her lawyers appeared on Greek TV stating, « Her position is that she is innocent, she has nothing to do with bribery from Qatar ».

    Following Visentini’s conditional release on Sunday 11 December 2022, in a statement issued through the ITUC, he replied to the allegations by saying:

    I am pleased that the questioning has concluded and I was able to fully answer all the questions. Should any further allegations be made, I look forward to the opportunity to refute them, as I am innocent of any wrongdoing. Any form of corruption is completely unacceptable and I am absolutely committed to the fight against corruption. I also wish to reconfirm the position that I have taken publicly that further pressure must be put on Qatar for workers and other human rights. The situation today is still not satisfactory, as I stated to the media at the end of my visit to Qatar.

    On 15 December the European People’s Party (EPP) reacted by declaring « We need to discuss hypocrisy […] This is an S&D scandal ». In an attempt to focus the scandal on the Progressive Alliance of Socialists and Democrats Group (S&D), rather than the European Parliament as a whole, they continued, « There has been a consistent effort to turn #Qatargate into an institutional issue alone. But this scandal is not an orphan. […] It has an address. And that’s the S&D Group.” However, one of the assistants whose flats were searched (Giuseppe Meroni) works for the EPP member Lara Comi, and the EPP member Maria Spyraki was later also put under investigation by the European Public Prosecutor’s Office (EPPO).

    Source : Wikipedia, 17/12/2022

    #Qatargate #Morocco #Antonio_Panzeri #Eva_Kaili #Francesco_Giorgi #European_parliament