The European Commission is to propose a new anti-corruption law to ensure stiff cross-European penalties for graft after a widening scandal saw arrests and asset freezes in Belgium, Italy, and Greece.
Greek MEP Eva Kaili, whose lawyer told media that his client is innocent and “has nothing to do with bribery from Qatar”, was stripped of her position as a vice president of the European Parliament by a near-unanimous vote of 625 MEPs on Tuesday after news spread of her arrest.
Dubbed Qatargate, the investigation into suspected organised crime, corruption, and money laundering saw a fresh wave of searches on Monday including within the European Parliament, as MEPs gathered for their final plenary session of the year.
Family members of a former MEP were reported to have been taken in for questioning in Italy, while Greek authorities said they had frozen assets linked to Ms Kaili.
Four people arrested in Belgium are to set to appear in court on Wednesday to determine whether they should be held in detention, after investigators said they had seized computers, smartphones, and hundreds of thousands of euro in cash, some of it stuffed into a suitcase. The investigation is said to be focusing on NGOs run by those detained.
In a debate in the European Parliament, MEPs warned that the scandal had undermined trust in the institution and called for reforms to improve transparency, with some warning that attempts to exert influence were not limited to Qatar.
The leader of the parliament’s Socialist and Democrat group, of which Ms Kaili was a member, said there would be an internal party investigation and called for MEPs’ meetings with representatives of states to be declared on the transparency register.
“The criminal behaviour of a few individuals cannot undermine the immense work done by a vast majority of MEPs,” Iratxe García Pérez said. “The full force of the law needs to fall on them.”
The European Commissioner for Home Affairs Ylva Johansson announced she would propose a new law to introduce “tough EU-wide penalties” for corruption, ” a very serious crime that undermines our democracy, our economy, our society”.
“We must criminalise all forms of corruption in all member states. Not just bribery as is the case today, but also trafficking in influence, illicit enrichment, embezzlement and abuse of power,” she told MEPs.
The scandal has put the broader issue of influence in the European Parliament into focus, with a series of MEPs challenging the institution’s lax reporting requirements for expenses receipts and meetings with interest groups.
The co-president of the Left group Manon Aubry said she had been repeatedly blocked in her attempts to trigger a debate on Qatar and its human rights record in advance of the World Cup, and that the interventions of some MEPs when a debate finally did take place had left her with “little doubt that Qatar was buying up European influence”.
The French MEP said she had been approached by the Qatari embassy, but turned down the meeting. Qatar has denied any wrongdoing.
“I hope this scandal, as damaging as it is, will light a fire,” Irish Green MEP Grace O’Sullivan told The Irish Times. “To improve transparency around funding and lobbying, and not just regarding third countries like Qatar, but companies and special interests too.”
