The arrest of a vice-president of the European Parliament and four others linked to a corruption investigation involving Qatar, which hosts the World Cup, has intensified calls for stricter rules for MEPs.
"While it is possibly the most flagrant case of alleged corruption the European Parliament has seen in many years, it is not an isolated incident," said the director of the anti-corruption organisation Transparency International, Michiel van Hulten.
"For 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 any) ethics oversight," van Hulten added, calling for "radical" reform.
"Any serious attempt to improve accountability is blocked by the ruling Bureau of the Parliament, with the consent of the majority of MEPs," he added."
Police arrested Greek MEP Eva Kaili on Friday, hours after the other four were detained for questioning. At least three were either Italian citizens or had originally come from Italy, a source close to the case told AFP.
The 44-year-old MEP is a companion of one of the four, Francesco Giorgio, a parliamentary assistant for the Socialists and Democrats group in the European Parliament, the source said.
Former Italian MEP Pierre-Antonio Panjeri, who served in parliament between 2004 and 2019, has also reportedly been arrested. All five were still being questioned on Saturday, a spokesman for Belgium's federal prosecutor's office said.
Source: CNA
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