EU suspends Parliament Vice President's powers over Qatar probe

A Greek MEP was suspended as a vice president of the European Parliament Saturday over a corruption probe implicating World Cup hosts Qatar that has ensnared four others and sparked calls for "root and branch reform" in the EU institution, Report informs via France 24.

European Parliament president Roberta Metsola "has decided to suspend with immediate effect all powers, duties and tasks that were delegated to Eva Kaili in her capacity as Vice-President of the European Parliament," a spokesperson said.

Socialist MEP Eva Kaili was arrested on Friday hours after four others were detained for questioning.

The announcement came amid mounting outrage over the allegations and calls for action to tackle corruption inside the European Parliament.

"Over many decades, the Parliament has allowed a culture of impunity to develop, with a combination of lax financial rules and controls and a complete lack of independent (or indeed any) ethics oversight," Transparency International's director Michiel van Hulten said.

The European Parliament's Greens group called for a full investigation into allegations of bribery by Qatar.

"We will not accept business as usual...," the group said. "We must strengthen our rules so this cannot happen again."

The European Parliament had "become a law unto itself", said Van Hulten. "It is time for root and branch reform."

Alberto Alemanno, a law professor based in Belgium, said the "scandal opens multiple Pandora's boxes all at once", including "flawed EU ethics system for MEPs" and the "scale of foreign influence over EU".

At least three of the others arrested were either Italian citizens or originally came from Italy, a source close to the case told AFP.

Kaili, 44, is the partner of one of the four others detained: Francesco Giorgi, a parliamentary assistant with the European Parliament's Socialists and Democrats group, said the source.

Former Italian MEP Pier-Antonio Panzeri, who served as a socialist in the parliament between 2004 and 2019, was also reportedly arrested.

Belgium's federal prosecutor's office said the investigation concerned suspected "corruption" and "money laundering".