Corruption in the European Parliament: the agency launches a procedure for lifting immunity from two elected officials

The investigation is ongoing. The European Parliament announced on Monday that it had initiated an emergency procedure following a request from the Belgian judiciary to lift the immunity of two MEPs as part of a corruption probe into Qatar.

The two elected officials concerned are the Italian Andrea Cozzolino and the Belgian Mark Tarabella, both belonging to the S&D (Social Democrats) group, as we have learned from sources familiar with the matter.

“In response to a request from the Belgian judiciary, I initiated an urgent procedure for lifting the immunity of two members of parliament. There will be no impunity, absolutely none,” MEP Roberta Metsola tweeted on Monday. “Officers will find this parliament on the side of the law. Corruption cannot pay off, and we will do everything to fight it,” she said.

The institution was rocked by a major scandal after the discovery in mid-December of several bags of banknotes in the house of one of the vice-presidents of parliament, Greek MEP Eva Kaili, about possible bribes from Doha.

Federal Judicial Police investigators suspected for months that the Gulf state was trying to influence the economic and political decisions of the European Parliament “by paying large sums of money or offering significant gifts to third parties of political and/or strategic importance.” in the European Parliament.”

In mid-July, a federal investigation was launched in Belgium into an alleged criminal organization suspected of interfering in European Union politics on behalf of Qatar, the Belgian daily Le Soir and the Flemish magazine Knack reported.

Arrested on December 9, Eva Kylie was taken into custody and stripped of her vice-presidential post. The latter’s companion, the Italian Francesco Giorgi, who is also Andrea Cozzolino’s parliamentary aide, the former Italian socialist MEP Pier-Antonio Panzeri, and the NGO representative Niccolò Figa-Talamanca were also among those arrested. The four individuals were charged with “belonging to a criminal organization”, “money laundering” and “corruption”.

An investigation by Belgian judge Michel Klez led to twenty searches in Belgium between 9 and 12 December, including the premises of the European Parliament in Brussels. First of all, the Belgian investigators received 1.5 million euros in cash, according to a court source, seized from the homes of Pierre-Antonio Panzeri and Eva Kylie, as well as from a suitcase carried by the latter’s father.

Major reforms

Faced with mounting criticism, MEP Roberta Metsola announced “wide-ranging” reforms from 2023, stating in particular “increased protections for whistleblowers” and “banning groups of ‘unofficial friendships with third parties'”. countries”.

Roberta Metsola will formally send a request to MEPs to waive the immunity of the two defendants at their next plenary meeting on January 16 in Strasbourg. The Parliamentary Committee on Legal Affairs (JURI) will then have to study it behind closed doors and make a proposal for a decision that will eventually be accepted by all MEPs in plenary session. The President of Parliament “asked all services and committees to give priority to this procedure with a view to completing it on February 13,” the press release said.

As of December 13, the Belgian Socialist Party has decided to remove Marc Tarabella from membership. And on December 16, the Italian Democratic Party announced that it would “preemptively” remove Andrea Cozzolino from its membership register, “until the ongoing investigation into the scandal with Cathargate in order to “protect the image of the party”.