Since the resignation of the Santer Commission, to the case of the involvement of European Parliament vice-president Eva Kaili, Brussels[/B] residents remember some of the scandals that have tainted the EU.
The recent arrests of MEPs, assistants and employees of the European Parliament, including PASOK MEP and Vice-President of the European Parliament Eva Kaili, may be a storm of arrests but, unfortunately, they are not the only ones that have concerned the European institutions in recent decades.
Brussels is the de facto capital of the European Union, as it is home to a number of key EU institutions and also the headquarters of NATO.
Spies, special interest agencies and all sorts of self-appointed influencers have been trying for decades to get a share, not necessarily the lion's share, of European funds.
Protothema.gr presents the biggest scandals that have occupied the EU in recent decades
1 The Commission scandal of Jacques Santer in 1999
This is the only case in the history of the EU that the entire European Commission, chaired by Luxembourg's Jacques Santer was forced to resign as the European Parliament was certain not to give a vote of confidence to the EU executive, due to a series of scandals, nepotism and mismanagement of European funds. Jacques Santer's Commission remains the only one in EU history to have resigned before the European Parliament lifted the vote of confidence.
On 17 March 1999 the European Union was shocked by the collective resignation of the members of the European Commission, following the publication of a report on malpractice, maladministration and scandals involving ten of the nineteen Commissioners. The French commissioner Edith Creston (former prime minister of France) and Spanish commissioner Manuel Marin came under the most fire from the committee conducting the investigations.
2. Qatari bribery scandal
This is arguably the second biggest scandal in the history of the European institutions. Eva Kaili, one of the 14 vice-presidents of the European Parliament, and five other people have been deprived of their freedom as part of a major investigation by the Federal Public Prosecutor's Office and the Federal Police into alleged criminal organisation, corruption and money laundering.
At present, Eva Kaili's companion, Francesco Giorgio, an assistant to another MEP, was also arrested and is also expected to be brought before a natural judge. A similar fate awaits Italian former MEP Pierre Antonio Panceri, as well as Giorgio, who is a lobbyist in Brussels.
3. The Cash for Influence scandal
Former Austrian MEP Ernst Strasser was sentenced to 4 years in prison following an investigation by the European Anti-Fraud Office (OLAF).
Mr Strasser received 100.000 euros a year to promote bills in the European Parliament from a virtual lobbying company set up by journalists posing as lobbyists to launder European funds.
4. The case of Mr Martin Schelmayer
The former head of the Commission President's office. Jean-Claude Juncker's mysterious confidant. A man determined and pushy, workaholic and tenacious, Martin Selmayer a passionate Europeanist, a complex and enigmatic figure of Berlemont, the Commission's Brussels headquarters, who evoked either fear, hatred or admiration and who was described, rightly or wrongly, as the "strongest man in the European Commission".
His path from the highest offices of the Juncker era to his unfavourable transfer to Austria has yet to be fully established. Journalistic sources in Brussels even referred to a suicide case of a Commission official linked to Mr. Schelmayer.
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