The Greek Vice-President of the EU Parliament, Eva Kaili, who was arrested on suspicion of corruption, will lose all the powers, duties and tasks assigned to her in this function with immediate effect. This was decided by Parliament President Roberta Metsola, as one of her spokeswomen announced. Only parliament itself can decide to remove Kaili from the post of vice-president.
The decision is based on investigations by the Belgian judiciary into suspected bribery and corruption, money laundering and attempts to influence political decisions by the Emirate of Qatar, the host of the current World Cup.
On Friday there were 16 searches and several arrests, including Kaili, one of 14 vice presidents of parliament. The former TV presenter has now become the face of the scandal.
According to dpa information, Kaili’s partner, who works as a political adviser in parliament, is also among those arrested. According to the prosecutor, a former MEP was also arrested, as well as his wife and daughter, according to the Italian news agency Ansa. With the exception of Kaili, all suspects are Italian nationals. 600,000 euros in cash and mobile phones were seized in searches in Belgium.
The 44-year-old Kaili was elected to parliament for the Pasok party, which belongs to the Social Democratic group together with the SPD. The SPD MEP Katarina Barley expressed irritation and disappointment about the scandal. “We don’t tolerate corruption. Corruption is poison for democracy,” said Barley, who is also Vice President, on ARD’s “Tagesthemen”.
Actually, the parliament has strict rules for the work of lobbyists, stricter than most national parliaments. “But if criminal energy is really involved, then no code of conduct and no obligation to disclose will help. Then you can only use criminal law to get at it,” said the SPD politician, referring to Kaili and four other suspects.