European parliament plans to ban Qatari officials from premises

Following the massive corruption scandal linked to Qatar, the European parliament is considering banning Qatari officials from its premises. The parliament’s president, Roberta Metsola, informed that the assembly’s senior leaders will talk about the possible ban.

A “wide-ranging reform” package is also expected following the scandal that has led to raids uncovering truck-loads of money and four people being charged with money laundering and corruption, including a serving MEP.

Replying to a query about whether she plans to ban Qatar representatives and other officials entangled in the scandal from the parliament, Metsola said, “That is one of the questions I will put to the conference of presidents immediately."

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Also Read |EU corruption scandal: Police shares pictures of bags of cash recovered in raids

Belgium investigators have recovered 1.5 million euros in cash in raids from Friday to Monday. They posted pictures of the money, which show a suitcase overflowing with 50 and 100 euro banknotes and two briefcases neatly stacked with 50 euro notes. The officers have been conducting searches on the suspicion that EU officials accepted bribes from World Cup host Qatar.

Belgian prosecutors have charged Eva Kaili, a Greek member, and three others for accepting bribes from Qatar in order to influence EU policymaking. Both Qatar and Kaili have denied any wrongdoing.

Several MEPs have said that they were offered free trips and World Cup tickets to visit Qatar which has been trying to dial down criticism of its treatment of migrant workers. Metsola said she was also invited to the World Cup, but she refused since she had "concerns about that country".

The decision to ban government officials from European parliament premises is a rare one. However, amid the Russia-Ukraine war, representatives of Russian companies with links to Kremlin have faced similar bans from the assembly’s buildings in Brussels and Strasbourg.

Metsola discussed the matter at the EU summit in Brussels with the bloc’s 27 leaders. “There will be no immunity, no sweeping things under the carpet, there will be no business as usual,” she told reporters.

(With inputs from agencies)

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