The reaction from the environment of Margaritis Schinas was immediate, regarding a Politico article that reported that the Vice President of the European Commission is under investigation by the competent Belgian authorities for the Qatar Gate scandal.
[/P]"False, unsubstantiated and misleading are the allegations about an alleged investigation of Margaritis Schinas. Lost in translation", Communication Advisor to the Vice-President of the Commission, Vangelis Demiris, said in a tweet.
According to the Politico report, Mr. Schinas had been at the opening ceremony of the World Cup in Qatar on behalf of the Commission, and had been criticised by MEPs for his tweets about Qatar in recent months. In a recent tweet, he praised Qatar for "significant and tangible progress on labour reforms", calling for those reforms to be maintained.
The Qatar visa decision
As Politico reports, the Greek vice president was central to the European Commission's decision to recommend lifting visa requirements for Qatar and Kuwait in April, which would abolish visas for Qataris travelling to the EU for up to 90 days in any 180-day period for either business, tourism or family reasons.
A vote on the draft was due to take place in the European Parliament this week, but two parliamentary sources said the vote was likely to be withdrawn and instead the dossier would be sent back to committee stage.
[BR][BR]A spokesman for the European Commission defended Schinas' presence at the event.
"As vice-president responsible for sport, European Commission vice-president Margaritis Schinas was invited to the opening match of the 2022 World Cup along with UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres and IOC President Thomas Bach, who were also present," the spokesman said in a statement.
The spokesman also noted that the Commission's assessment of Qatar's labour reforms "accurately reflects the ILO (International Labour Organisation) reports," adding that Vice President Schinas began his visit to Qatar with a special briefing by the ILO representative.
European Socialists delete Eva Kaili from the Eurogroup
Meanwhile, on Monday afternoon (12/12) the Group of Socialists and Democrats in the European Parliament decided to delete Eva Kaili.[/B] The decision has immediate effect and comes after the suspension of her membership decided last Friday.
Moreover, this is the day on which Ms Kaili was brought in for questioning by the Belgian authorities. At the same time, the S&D announced that it had called for the removal of Eva Kaili from the office of Vice-President of the European Parliament during a plenary session this week, also under Rule 21 of the Rules of Procedure.
"We are shocked by the allegations of corruption in the European Parliament. The S&D Group has zero tolerance for corruption. We support a thorough investigation and full disclosure. We will fully cooperate with all investigating authorities" says S&D.
Proceedings to remove Eva Kaili from her position as Vice President
Eva Kaili may have been summoned on Friday afternoon, but sources from the Belgian prosecutor's office point out that the timing was not chosen at random.
On the one hand, the local authorities with this leak suggest that they did not want to create a "noise" with the European Parliament in full operation and on the other hand, it seems that there has been a briefing of the top executives about the findings and what happened.
The procedures inside the European Parliament are also "running" today with a special police team entering 48 hours after Eva Kaili was brought to her office in the Parliament and leaving after taking paper material and computers to seal it, as per procedure.
According to information from Brussels, President Metsola has already informed the Council of Presidents of the Institution that tomorrow at 08:30 in the morning the Institution will convene an extraordinary meeting with the sole topic of discussion being the activation of Rule 21.
Rule 21 concerns exclusively the way in which a Vice-President of the European Parliament is removed from office. The decision should be considered as unanimous and as of tomorrow morning Eva Kaili will also lose her status as Vice-President of the European Parliament.
However, the President of the European Parliament, Roberta Metsola, announced on Monday evening (12/12) that Eva Kaili has been stripped of her duties and responsibilities as Vice-President of the European Parliament.
"As a precautionary measure, again with full respect for the presumption of innocence, I have removed from the said Vice-President any duties and responsibilities related to her role as Vice-President and convened an extraordinary meeting of the Conference of Presidents to initiate a Rule 21 procedure to terminate her mandate as Vice-President in an effort to protect the integrity of this House," Roberta Metsola pointed out.
Source: CNN Greece
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