This request does not relate to Qatargate, but to “suspicions of fraud” in the remuneration of parliamentary assistants.
On Tuesday, January 17, the European Parliament allowed the new European public prosecutor’s office, which has in its sights the Greek Eva Kaili, already at the heart of the alleged corruption scandal with Qatar, to request the lifting of immunity for MEPs.
By near-unanimity (610 votes for, 26 votes against and 9 abstentions), MEPs, meeting in Strasbourg, accepted a modification of the institution’s rules of procedure allowing the European Public Prosecutor’s Office to make requests for the waiver of parliamentary immunity . Until now, only the authorities of an EU Member State were able to do this.
“Suspicions” around parliamentary assistants
In mid-December, the European Public Prosecutor’s Office, an independent body in operation since 2021, called for the lifting of the parliamentary immunity of Eva Kaili, currently imprisoned as part of the investigation into suspicions as well as that of another Greek MEP , Maria Spyraki. This request is not about Qatargate, but about “suspected fraudin the remuneration of parliamentary assistants.
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The modification of the rules of procedure will enter into force on Wednesday January 18 and the President of the European Parliament, Roberta Metsola, should make the official announcement of the launch of the procedure for lifting the immunity of Eva Kaili and Maria Spyraki. This procedure, which has several stages and ends with a vote in the hemicycle, takes several weeks.