The EU Parliament likes to work, and often with morality. So it’s no wonder that the corruption scandal is also causing pure joy. Among those who are considered corrupt in Brussels itself. Hungary’s Prime Minister Orban is showing his satisfaction.
For Viktor Orban, the corruption scandal surrounding the European Parliament is good news. The Hungarian Prime Minister let the world take part in this in the morning. On Twitter, Orban, against whose government in Brussels the most serious allegations of corruption have been raised for years, shared an iconic photo, a so-called meme: You can see a group of men writhing with laughter, including former US President Ronald Reagan and Vice George Bush . “And then they said the European Parliament was seriously concerned about corruption in Hungary,” Orban wrote alongside the picture. And: “Good morning to the European Parliament.”
It was not a good morning for the European Parliament, which met in Strasbourg on Monday for the last week of the year. Since Friday it has been the focus of a corruption scandal the likes of which has probably never happened in Brussels. Bribery and corruptibility, influence exerted by the Gulf Emirate of Qatar, money laundering and corruption – these are the accusations being made. The Greek Vice President Eva Kaili and three other suspects are therefore in custody. It’s a disaster for the house. The European Parliament would like to be more powerful than it is. In matters of foreign policy in particular, however, the powers tend to lie with the governments of the EU states. Often all that is left for parliament is to demand, appeal, invoke, criticize. Morality as the sharpest weapon.
This is where Orban comes in. There are now countless parliamentary resolutions condemning the dismantling of the rule of law in Hungary. Most recently, less than three weeks ago, parliament called for full harshness against the government in Budapest. The EU states should freeze EU funds in the billions for Hungary. And now this – a scandal reaching to the top of Parliament. Kaili, 44, and others are suspected of having collected money to influence political decisions for the World Cup host country. At the EU level, for example, consideration is currently being given to easing the visa rules for Qatari citizens.
“The damage was done to the entire European Parliament, which is why the democratic, pro-European part of Parliament must react with great clarity,” demanded the leader of the Greens, Terry Reintke. For all the details to come to light, a committee of inquiry would have to be set up, she said. At the same time, Parliament is working on removing Kaili as Vice President as quickly as possible. President Roberta Metsola had already withdrawn her powers from the former TV presenter. But the revelations come at an inopportune time not only for parliament, but also for Qatar – which rejects the allegations – namely in the middle of the ongoing World Cup and thus under the eyes of the world public. The Brussels case is unlikely to mean permanent damage for Doha. The rich country has steadily expanded and deepened its influence in the Arab world, in Europe and beyond in recent years. It has made a rapid ascent from a desert state that was almost exclusively Bedouin inhabited 100 years ago.
Because most of the suspects are Italians, the cause is not only causing a stir in Brussels and Greece, but also in the Mediterranean country. The Belgian investigators even speak of an “Italian connection” within this “Qatargate”, as the newspaper “La Repubblica” reported.
The previous investigations, especially against Antonio Panzeri – a former trade unionist, long-standing member of the European Parliament for the Social Democrats and then founder of a non-governmental organization fighting for human rights around the world – are extensively carried out in the Italian media. Hundreds of thousands of euros in cash are said to have been found with the 67-year-old. His wife and daughter – the latter a lawyer for European law, among other things – were arrested on a European arrest warrant and placed under house arrest. You are accused of favoritism.
Above all, Panzeris’s wife is said to have known about the machinations that the ex-politician is accused of. “We can’t spend 100,000 euros on vacation like last year,” she said to her husband in a wiretapped phone call. The woman herself spoke of “shady machinations”. When it came to a New Year’s Eve vacation, she suggested using the credit card of someone she called “The Giant.” The media wrote that it was not clear from the files who that was. In the face of these revelations, which focus on social democrats, Viktor Orban is not the only one rubbing his hands. The right-wing Lega in Rome also demanded at the weekend that the Italian authorities should also investigate.
