Belgium, (Brussels Morning Newspaper) The European Parliament on Tuesday ousted a lawmaker who was arrested over the weekend in an investigation into alleged bribes by Qatar.
“The European Parliament decided on Tuesday to terminate the term of office of Vice-President Eva Kaili,” the parliament, the only-directly elected institution of the EU, said in a statement.
Eva Kaili, from Greece, has served as a member of the European Parliament since 2014.
Kaili is a shadow rapporteur for the Cyber Resilience Act. The responsibility for reassigning rapporteurs lies with the coordinators, said Jaume Guillot, chief spokesperson for the Parliament.
Kaili’s shadow rapporteur position is “a more informal arrangement within the group,” so there is no need to validate the decision on such an appointment with either the coordinators or the other committee members, Guillot.
Other members suspended themselves from the S&D group or stepped back from their parliamentary roles.
Belgian MEP Marie Arena said she will temporarily stand aside as chair of the European Parliament’s subcommittee on human rights, which is caught up in the Qatar corruption scandal. Police searched the office of Arena’s parliamentary aide in the probe.
Belgian MEP Marc Tarabella — whose home was raided Saturday night — said he “decided to step aside within the S&D group.” Tarabella also stood down from the Parliament’s delegation for relations with the Arab Peninsula.
Other S&D members with less direct connections to the case also stepped back. Italian MEP Pietro Bartolo stepped down as shadow rapporteur on visa liberalization. Italian MEP Andrea Cozzolino stepped down as S&D coordinator.
Roberta Metsola, the President of the European Parliament, warned on Monday that there would be “no impunity” for those found guilty of corruption as she addressed what is perhaps the gravest graft scandal to hit the hemicycle in recent years.
“Make no mistake, the European Parliament, dear colleague, is under attack. European democracy is under attack,” Metsolsa said during the opening of December’s plenary session.
She also announced a reform process on lobbying and transparency rules.
