The Belgian federal prosecutor’s office opened an investigation on Thursday April 11 into suspicions of corruption among MEPs, Belgian Prime Minister Alexander De Croo announced on Friday. These investigations were launched after the identification and dismantling by the Czech intelligence services of a network financed by Moscow which spread pro-Russian propaganda about Ukraine, in particular by criticizing Western aid through the site Voice of Europe.
“Our judicial authorities have confirmed that this interference is subject to prosecution: the cash payments did not take place in Belgium; interference, if »Belgium “being the seat of the European institutions”said Mr. De Croo during a press conference.
A spokesperson for the prosecution confirmed to Agence France-Presse (AFP) that an investigation had been opened on Thursday, without giving details. Czech intelligence, BIS, claimed at the end of March that “money from Moscow has[vait] been used to pay certain political representatives spreading Russian propaganda”before adding that “people with strong pro-Russian views, including European politicians, [avaient] received [sur Voice of Europe] a media space ».
The subject will be discussed between EU member countries
According to Belgian intelligence services, “Moscow’s objectives are clear: help elect more pro-Russian candidates to the European Parliament” during the June elections “and strengthen the pro-Russian discourse within this institution. This is extremely worrying”, insisted the Belgian Prime Minister during this press conference. According to him, the federal prosecutor’s office will ask “over the next few days” a meeting of Eurojust – the judicial cooperation agency of the European Union (EU) – ” emergency “and the subject will be discussed next Wednesday and Thursday at a summit of EU heads of state and government in Brussels.
The affair very quickly took a political turn, just two months before the European elections and in a Brussels institution already shaken since December 2022 by the so-called “Qatargate” affair, around suspicions of corruption of elected officials involving Qatar and the Morocco.
Without mentioning any names, MEP Nathalie Loiseau (Renew) stated that “those parliamentarians who[e] are returned [sur Voice of Europe et y] were interviewed (…) all belong to the European, German and French extreme right ». But the president of the National Rally and head of the list of the far-right movement for the European elections, Jordan Bardella, announced on April 4 that“no one elected” of his party ” n / A[vait] been approached » by this network of Russian influence.
“We must fight against all forms of interference, starting with Russian interference”declared Mr. Bardella on France 2, stressing however that, “in this perfectly incredible affair, parliamentarians are accused of having responded to journalists accredited by the European Parliament”.