BRUSSELS (AP) — The European Union parliament voted Thursday to suspend investigations into all files linked to Qatar and called for the withdrawal of security passes for representatives of Gulf interests until a light is shed on a corruption scandal rocking the assembly.
Shaken by an investigation into cash and gifts for political influence that has so far caught 4 people, including a vice-president of the European Parliament, lawmakers have committed to the formula of. . .
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BRUSSELS (AP) — The European Union parliament voted Thursday to suspend investigations into all files linked to Qatar and called for the withdrawal of security passes for representatives of Gulf interests until a light is shed on a corruption scandal rocking the assembly.
Shaken by an investigation into cash and gifts for political influence that has so far trapped four people, including a vice president of the European Parliament, lawmakers have committed to the financial reporting formula and banned donations from third countries.
The compromises came here in a solution voted in Strasbourg, France, by 541 votes in favour, two against and 3 abstentions.
In Brentuxelles, the assembly’s other main venue, Parliament Speaker Roberta Metsola said work being discussed included an agreement allowing Qataris with biometric passports to make short visa-free stays in the EU. research. “
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Metsola said questions were also raised about a separate aviation deal between the EU and Qatar on which the meeting will be consulted. Talks began with the EU’s executive arm, the European Commission, over whether the deal deserves to be suspended.
The deal, signed in October 2021, would allow all EU airlines to operate direct flights to Qatar from any airport in the 27-nation bloc and give Qatari airlines the equivalent of European capitals. EU member countries have not yet approved it.
Metsola swore that would be it. ” We’ll take a look at everything. We will take a look at any undue tension and undue influence we see happening,” he told reporters after talks with the 27 national leaders at an EU summit.
The scandal spread when Qatar hosts the soccer World Cup. The small energy-rich Persian Gulf country saw its foreign profile when Doha used its huge offshore herbal fuel deposits to make the country one of the richest in the world according to capital. He used cash to boost his regional ambitions and gain outsized influence on the foreign stage.
Belgian prosecutors have charged four other people with corruption, involvement in a criminal organization and money laundering on suspicion of trying to buy political favors in parliament with cash or gifts.
Among them are a former vice president of the meeting and her partner. Greek lawmaker Eva Kaili remains in detention pending a hearing on December 22. His term ended through lawmakers this week. His partner, Francesco Giorgi, is a parliamentary adviser.
The heads of two charities were charged: Giorgi’s former boss, Pier Antonio Panzeri, who heads the crusader organization Fight Impunity and is a former member of the European Parliament, and Niccolo Figa-Talamanca, secretary general of the non-governmental organization No Peace. No justice.
Metsola has promised sweeping reforms in the coming months to crack down on influence peddling in the Assembly. This would mean stronger whistleblower protection, stricter scrutiny of the code of conduct and a review of Parliament’s remedy for non-EU governments.
Read more: Government News
Referring to the institution’s transparency registry, he said: “Yesterday an NGO called No Paz Sin Justicia was suspended, which would be linked to this ongoing investigation, which had 11 accredited people. “
Asked if vital legislative archives, non-binding resolutions, declarations or texts of a purely political nature, may have simply been influenced, Metsola said: “I asked for a review of what was voted and worked on. I have no data on that. “
German Green MEP Daniel Freund, one of the leading ethics lawmakers, welcomed his colleagues’ commitment to politely disclose their monetary assets.
“If it is imaginable to determine whether assets fit a transparent source of revenue or become inexplicably larger, it will deter corruption and make it more complicated to spend illegal money,” Freund said in a statement.
In a separate investigation on Thursday, the European chief prosecutor requested the lifting of Kaili’s parliamentary immunity due to an imaginable fraud in the control of allowances won by lawmakers and, in particular, similar to the payment of parliamentary assistants.
The 44-year-old former Greek TV presenter did not overcome her parliamentary immunity in the corruption case because she was allegedly caught red-handed.
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