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Greek MEP Eva Kaili: In the sights of the investigators
Photo: ERIC VIDAL / AFP
After the arrest of the EU Vice President Eva Kaili on allegations of corruption in connection with Qatar, several factions in the EU Parliament want to suspend planned negotiations on visa facilitation for citizens of the Gulf Emirates.
"We in the Greens are against Qatar getting visa facilitation in the current situation," Green MEP Erik Marquardt told the AFP news agency on Saturday.
On Friday, the police in Brussels arrested five people in connection with the investigation.
Among them is Kaili and her partner, who works in the European Parliament.
The Greek is suspected of having received money from Qatar to represent the interests of the Gulf state in Brussels.
The Belgian newspaper "Le Soir" reports that the investigators caught them "in flagranti", the Italian newspaper "La Repubblica" writes of "sacks full of banknotes" that were found.
The investigations are about alleged efforts by a Gulf state to "influence the economic and political decisions of the European Parliament by paying significant sums of money or making significant gifts".
According to media reports, this Gulf state is said to be Qatar.
Kaili only visited Qatar in late October and early November, meeting with Prime Minister Chalid bin Chalifa bin Abdulasis Al Thani and other senior government officials, Qatar's state news agency reported.
At the end of November, Kaili said in the European Parliament that Qatar was "pioneering" on workers' rights.
»Today, the World Cup in Qatar is proof that sports diplomacy can bring about historic change in a country.«
Also left and social democrats for postponing the negotiations
The start of negotiations between Parliament and the member states on visa facilitation for Qatar and Kuwait was to be formally announced in the EU Parliament on Monday.
The responsible committee in Parliament and the member states had already spoken out in principle in favor of citizens from Qatar and Kuwait being able to stay in the EU for up to 90 days without a visa.
Marquardt, who is in charge of the bill in parliament, said he wanted to suspend the start of negotiations and thus possible visa facilitation until more information about the allegation of corruption became known.
"You have to make sure that there was no influence by members of parliament or employees on the EU Parliament's draft text on visa facilitation for Qatar," said Marquardt.
The Left Group and the Social Democrats also called for later negotiations.
"As long as there is no clarity as to the extent to which Qatari money has flowed, there must be no visa facilitation for Qatar," said the co-chairman of the left-wing group in the EU Parliament, Martin Schirdewan, the AFP news agency.
In a press release on Friday, the Social Democrats group called for a “suspension of work on all dossiers and plenary votes relating to the Gulf States, particularly visa facilitation and planned visits”.
slu/AFP