The “Qatargate” scandal in the European Parliament is endless. Two MEPs admitted to having traveled to Qatar at the expense of the emirate, without having declared it, thus contravening their obligation as European elected representatives. The lawyer for the elected Belgian socialist Marc Tarabella admitted, on Sunday January 15, that the latter had failed to declare a trip to Qatar in February 2020, a few days after his compatriot Marie Arena reported a “forgetting” similar.
According to Marc Tarabella’s lawyer, the latter traveled to the emirate at the beginning of 2020 to ” see stadium construction and meet workers » working on the sites of the 2022 World Cup. “He was invited (…) for a congress. It was the organization that paid”said Maxim Töller on the Belgian channel RTL.
“He hasn’t declared it yet. (…) He then went to Ghana, then there was the Covid (…). His collaborator reminds him to do so, but the deadline has passed », then tried to explain the lawyer to justify the failure of the elected official to his obligation. He then insisted that Mr Tarabella was going to “ straighten things out” and that “there is nothing illegal about having [réalisé] a trip paid for by an organization”.
Towards a lifting of the parliamentary immunity of Marc Tarabella
Since the implosion of “Qatargate” in mid-December, four people have been charged with alleged corruption within the European Parliament for the benefit of Qatar: Eva Kaili, the now ex-President of the European Parliament, her companion, the assistant parliamentarian Francesco Giorgi, former deputy Pier Antonio Panzeri and Niccolo Figa-Talamanca, leader of the NGO No Peace Without Justice.
Several other people are in the sights of justice. This is the case of Belgian MEP Marc Tarabella, whose home was also searched at the start of the case. In Brussels, the latter is known for having defended Qatar several times in the hemicycle and for his friendship with Pier Antonio Panzeri, from whom 600,000 euros in cash were seized.
On Sunday, his lawyer tried to defend his rather lenient stance towards Qatar. If Mr Tarabella underlined last November in the European hemicycle “positive development” of human rights in Qatar, he did so on behalf of the “realpolitik” and as“encouragement” for the emirate, he argued.
Mr Töller also attempted to explain ” friendship “ of his client with Pier Antonio Panzeri, arguing: “He’s not a little Italian in the back of a trattoria. (…) He was elected MEP three times, [c’est] someone very respected. (…) It is quite possible that he actually advised [à M. Tarabella] to say such a thing”without this one “can imagine” that the Italian elected “would have monetized their friendship”.
Despite the denials of Mr. Tarabella and his lawyer about the involvement of the elected official in this affair, the Belgian judicial authorities have requested the lifting of his parliamentary immunity. The European Parliament thus announced on January 2 that it had launched an emergency procedure to lift it, alongside that of Italian Socialist MEP Andrea Cozzolino.
Socialist MEP Marie Arena pleads “forgetting”
This admission of non-declaration of a trip to Qatar, all expenses paid by the emirate, is not the first of the week. On Wednesday, Belgian socialist MEP Marie Arena also admitted to having failed to declare a mission she carried out in Qatar in May 2022 and paid for by the emirate, blaming the“forgetting” to its secretariat and referring “a fairly complicated document to fill out”according to his statements to the Belgian press.
Mme Arena resigned in the wake of her presidency of the human rights sub-committee of the European Parliament, a position previously held by Pier Antonio Panzeri and from which she had withdrawn as soon as the scandal broke.
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“This decision was taken in view of the political and media attacks that are damaging my image” as “to all the work carried out within the sub-committee”, she explained to the Belga agency. She repeated “have nothing to be ashamed of” and not having, for its part, been the subject of searches or a request for the lifting of parliamentary immunity.