Eva Kaili after being released from custody in April. After that, she had to wear an electronic ankle bracelet, which she was allowed to remove a few days ago.
Photo: AFP/Simon Wohlfahrt
Exactly six months ago, the »Qatargate« affair started rolling: Eva Kaili, initially a well-known newsreader in her Greek homeland, later the hope of the social democratic party Pasok and finally Vice President of the European Parliament, was completely surprised in Brussels on December 9, 2022 arrested. Just one day later she lost her powers as deputy head of parliament and ended up in custody. The suspicion: Kaili is said to have influenced political decisions for bribes from Morocco and Qatar amounting to 1.5 million euros.
On the same day – World Anti-Corruption Day – Kaili’s partner, an employee of the Socialist Group in the European Parliament, was arrested. This had been assistant to the former Social Democrat MEP Pier Antonio Panzeri from Italy. The allegations against the three politicians are: Membership in a criminal organization, corruption and money laundering. While 44-year-old Kaili denies everything, her boyfriend made a partial confession under interrogation, according to media reports. He managed funds from Qatar and Morocco and distributed them to members of parliament, Panzeri was the head of the gang.
In the meantime, he has offered himself to the public prosecutor’s office as a key witness and was released from custody in April. He had money distributed to parliamentarians who, in return, represented “certain positions”. Former critics in the EU Parliament suddenly defended hosting the 2022 World Cup in Qatar. The anti-corruption organization Transparency International (TI) complained about a “culture of impunity” in the European Parliament; the affair is “not an isolated case” and there is a lack of independent control.
Parliament President Roberta Metsola (EPP) reacted quickly at the time and presented a 14-point plan. This is a compilation of existing rules and those “that we could introduce,” she said. It is less about travel, gifts and other amenities paid for by the host country: “We are talking about criminal corruption carried out by a foreign actor in order to undermine the processes that we are so proud of.” Above all, Qatar was meant . Like other Gulf states, the sheikdom is trying to break out of the shadow of its western partners and play an independent role in the global economy and politics.
For its part, the EU sets the binding framework for the 27 member states. On average, 57 percent of all laws in Germany that are important for the economy are based on European legislation, as shown by a somewhat older study by the Fernuniversität Hagen, to which the federal government refers. The corona crisis, the energy transition and the Ukraine war have increased the influence of the EU since then.
Until “Qatargate”, the European Parliament had boasted about its transparency rules, which have also applied to the EU Commission Ursula von der Leyens and the Council of Ministers since 2021, i.e. to all three legislative institutions. The 25,000 lobbyists who maintain contacts with the three institutions have to state what specific issues they are working on, on whose behalf they are working and who is funding them.
That’s not enough for critics. “The big announcements by Parliament and the Commission for better rules of conduct, stronger controls and more transparency have so far not been implemented at all or only very insufficiently,” criticized the non-governmental organizations TI, Corporate Europe Observatory and Lobby Control at a joint online press conference on Thursday . Reforms threatened to be significantly weakened in lengthy backroom negotiations, said Ninakatzemich from Lobby Control. What is now needed is a legally binding and controlled lobby register, better rules against conflicts of interest for MPs and an authority equipped with sufficient resources and competencies. This should monitor compliance and enforcement of the rules. The ethics committee also proposed by the EU Commission on Thursday was “insufficient” for this.
Organizational economists dispute whether a new authority is really needed to control the “authority EU” – 705 parliamentarians, the EU Commission and over 20,000 civil servants – and critics regard it as an Orwellian solution. Reference is also made to an almost paradoxical effect that NGOs tend not to have in mind: Too much transparency can create a new level of confusion and thus new opacity. It seems more practicable to force MEPs to disclose assets, as is mandatory for EU commissioners. Stricter rules and controls for officials would also be required. And dubious revolving door effects, in which ex-politicians switch to business, should be stopped. However, as Parliament President Metsola agrees, criminal corruption “can never be completely prevented”.