Just as the Qatar World Cup competition entered the final stage, a deputy speaker of the European Parliament was recently removed from office on suspicion of accepting bribes from Qatar. The scandal has raised questions about the lack of its own oversight mechanism in the European Parliament.
The deputy president of the European Parliament was removed for accepting bribes from Qatar
On December 13, the European Parliament held a plenary session and voted to remove Kelly, a Greek deputy speaker of the European Parliament suspected of taking bribes from Qatar. At the same time, the Greek government also announced the freezing of all of Kelly's assets.
Kylie was imprisoned in Belgium last Sunday on suspicion of taking bribes from Qatar to defend Qatar's interests, which is hosting the World Cup, in the European Parliament.
According to the investigation, in addition to Kelly, five other people were arrested and three imprisoned, including Kelly's father and boyfriend, as well as Pan Zeli, a former member of the Social Democratic Party of the European Parliament and current head of the NGO "Fight Against Impunity", as well as the president of the International Trade Union Confederation Vicentini and his wife and daughter.
As a result of the alleged bribery, the European Parliament's security services also seized about 10 offices in the building of the European Parliament in Strasbourg, France.
Qatar has adamantly denied paying bribes, and Kelly's lawyer claims that Kelly has not taken any "bribes from Qatar." According to Belgian judicial sources, in Kylie's apartment in the Belgian capital, police found bags containing 150,000 euros in cash. Kelly's father was found with a box containing 750,000 euros in cash.
Belgian prosecutors said a Gulf state was suspected of "trying to influence political and economic decisions in the EU Parliament by providing huge amounts of cash and valuable gifts."
In response, a Qatari official said "any allegations of Qatari misconduct are unfounded."
The European Parliament has been accused of lacking a monitoring mechanism
In November, Kelly, 44, a former Greek television anchor, traveled to Qatar as vice president of the European Parliament and representative for the Middle East and met with the Qatari Minister of Labour.
Speaking at the European Parliament afterwards, Kylie called the World Cup in Qatar "a concrete example of sports diplomacy driving a country's historic transformation, and Qatar's reform process will inspire the entire Arab world." Qatar has set an example in protecting workers' rights. The Qatar World Cup is a great tool for political change and reform. ”
Later, the European Parliament also approved a bill for Qatari citizens to travel freely to European Schengen Area countries without applying for a visa. The European Parliament is moving forward with a bill to allow Qatar Airways unlimited access to the EU market.
For years, international NGOs have accused Qatar of trampling on the basic human rights of hundreds of thousands of foreign workers and calling on Western countries to boycott the World Cup in Qatar. During the construction of the World Cup venues, there were also reports of deaths and injuries of foreign workers.
Commenting on the European Parliament case, the NGO Transparency International believes that "this is not a separate incident, and for decades the European Parliament has turned a blind eye to the impunity that breeds within it and has completely lacked an independent ethical oversight mechanism." The time has come for fundamental reform of the European Parliament. "And this Kelly bribery incident once again exposes the long-standing lack of their own supervision and punishment mechanisms in the EU and the European Parliament, and an anti-corruption storm within the EU and the European Parliament will follow."
Source: Phoenix TV Yanming Paris report
Editor: Wonsan