On December 13 local time, three days after Belgian prosecutor accused four European Parliament officials of accepting bribes from a Gulf country to influence parliamentary decisions, the European Parliament voted to suspend the position of deputy speaker of Greek MP Eva Carly.

Eva Kaili Visual China Picture

On December 13th local time, three days after the prosecutor accused four European Parliament officials of accepting bribes from a Gulf country to influence parliamentary decisions, the European Parliament voted to suspend the post of deputy speaker of Greece MP Eva Kaili. On the same day, the Greek government announced the freezing of all Carly's property.

According to Reuters on December 13, Belgian prosecutors said that for more than four months, they have suspected a Gulf country's attempt to influence the decision of the European Parliament. Although the prosecutor did not name it, people familiar with the matter said that the Gulf country suspected of bribery was Qatar .

According to the British " Guardian " and " Washington Post " on December 13, since the 9th, Belgian police have raided the European Parliament office and 19 private residences, seized hundreds of thousands of euros of cash, frozen technical access to 10 parliamentary officials to preserve investigation data, and detained six suspects. On the 11th, a Belgian judge accused four of them of suspected money laundering, corruption and representing a Gulf country in criminal organizations.

In response to this, European Commission Chairman von der Leyen said that these allegations are "extremely worrying" and have caused people to shake their confidence and trust in EU institutions.

The European Parliament is the legislative, supervisory and consultative body of the EU. According to the BBC (BBC) on December 13, European Parliament members said the case may be one of the biggest corruption scandals in the history of the parliament. Right-wing politicians from state and nationalism, who have always been criticized by the European Parliament, said the European Parliament had lost its moral commanding heights. Hungarian Foreign Minister Sijaldor Peter posted on Facebook ( Facebook ) saying, "From now on, it will be difficult for the European Parliament to talk about corruption, and it will be more convincing."

Although the identity of the four accused has not been officially confirmed, according to multiple media reports, the four are Eva Carly, his partner and parliamentary assistant Francesco Giorgi, former European Parliament official Pier Antonio Panzeri, and Niccolo Figa-Talamanca, secretary-general of the Human Rights and Rule of Law Movement.

According to Reuters, although Carly denied all the charges, the European Parliament was worried that the investigation would seriously threaten the credibility of the EU, and ended her term with an overwhelming result of 625 votes, with only 1 vote against and 2 abstentions. At the same time, the European Parliamentary political group, the Union for Social Democracy and Progress (SD), and the Greek political party Pan-Hellenic Socialist Movement (PASOK), both removed them.

According to the Washington Post, Carly's past position covers the Middle East, and can supervise voting in place of the Speaker when needed, and also has a say in administrative, personnel and organizational issues.

Previously, Qatar had been criticized by many Western media for immigrant workers and human rights issues. As the World Cup began in November, Carly delivered a speech in the European Parliament, accusing some European Parliament members of bullying and discriminating against Qatar, praising Qatar for reforming the "Kafara" system and being the "leader of labor rights."

According to the US political news website Politico on December 11, despite Qatar's request to postpone the visit of the European Parliament delegation in November, Carly met with Qatar's Minister of Labor Ali bin Sammih Marley as scheduled, and after returning to Brussels , he participated in the vote of the European Parliament Judicial and Interior Committee to support a proposal to allow Qataris and Kuwaits to travel visa-free in the EU Schengen area. It is reported that the proposal has been stopped.

corruption scandal has caused more aftermath. The European Parliament is reviewing whether Qatar has intervened in the internal review of a key air transport agreement that allows Qatar airline to enter the EU market without restrictions. Karima Delli, chairman of the parliamentary transport committee responsible for the agreement, said, “In view of recent developments, it may be difficult to pass the agreement at this stage until everything is clear and impartial”.

days ago, Qatari officials denied any wrongdoing. Officials said: "Qatar is fully abiding by international laws and regulations.Any practice of linking the Qatar government to suspected bribery is groundless and seriously misleading. ”