"The Democratic Party will vote in favor of lifting the immunity of MEPs Andrea Cozzolino and Marc Tarabella".
This was stated during the Agorà broadcast on Rai Tre by Brando Benifei, MEP of the Democratic Party and alternate member of Juri, the legal commission of the European Parliament which will have to evaluate the request for waiver of the immunity requested by the Belgian judiciary for the two MEPs involved in the Qatargate investigation.
The names of Tarabella and Cozzolino had already ended up on several occasions in the news on the Qatargate papers, and Tarabella's home had been searched in the presence of the president of the European Parliament Roberta Metsola (as required by Belgian law) already on 10 December, in the 'after the arrest, among others, also of Kaili's companion, Francesco Giorgi (parliamentary assistant of Cozzolino) and of the former MEP and former trade unionist Pier Antonio Panzeri, lobbyist, founder of the NGO Fight Impunity and considered a central figure in the alleged maneuvers to soften the position of the institutions in favor of Qatar, Morocco and even Mauritania.
"Since the beginning of this case,
The urgent procedure for the waiver of the immunity of the two MEPs will be officially opened by Metsola at the first available plenary session of the Eurochamber, on Monday 16 January in Strasbourg.
Maltese politics, it was announced, has asked all Parliament services and commissions to give priority to the matter in order to conclude it by February 13, when the new plenary will meet again.
After the communication of the president to the plenary, according to the regulation, the request will pass to the Legal Affairs Commission of the Parliament, which will appoint a rapporteur and will discuss it behind closed doors, possibly arranging hearings, and will then elaborate its opinion for the plenary with a recommendation to vote.
The Eurochamber will decide by simple majority.
"There will be no impunity. None",
"From the outset the European Parliament has done everything in its power to help the investigation and we will continue to ensure that there is no impunity. Those responsible will find this Parliament on the side of the law. Corruption cannot pay and we we will do everything to fight it," he added.
In the coming weeks, Metsola will also illustrate its hypotheses for reforming the Parliament, with a revision of the rules and an improvement of the internal systems.