Two MEPs found guilty of corruption will be stripped of their immunity. The related procedure was initiated by the president of the legislature, Roberta Metsola, in shape press service.
“President Metsola has launched an urgent procedure to strip two MEPs of their immunity at the request of the Belgian judiciary,” reads the press release. “The first procedural measures have already been taken, the president will announce it in the plenary session on January 16, then the request will be submitted to the legal commission for an appropriate decision”.
The document does not specify which MPs are in question, but previously all media have written about the corruption scandal surrounding the World Cup in Qatar. It broke out on 9 December, when Belgian police arrested four people, including the vice-president of the European Parliament Eve Kayla. Then the Public Prosecutor’s Office said they were “suspected of having paid large bribes or having offered significant gifts to third parties with a political and/or strategic position that would allow them to influence the decisions of the European Parliament”.
Among the suspects there are many Italian MEPs. Investigators attribute a key role in the organization to Antonio Panzeri, MEP from 2004 to 2019. He was first elected by the centre-left coalition, and then by the Pd. Furthermore, the deputies are suspected of having ties to Morocco. This country’s foreign intelligence service allegedly hired a team that includes a member of the European Parliament Andrew Cozzolinoto influence the Social Democratic Group in the European Parliament as early as 2019.
