Qatargate: Metsola waives two MEPs’ immunity after Belgian judicial request

In what was undoubtedly one of her first orders of business of the new year, European Parliament President Roberta Metsola on Monday afternoon launched an urgent procedure for the waiver of immunity of two Members of the European Parliament following a request from the Belgian judicial authorities.

Metsola has asked all services and committees involved to give the procedure priority with a view to having it concluded by 13 February.

The European Parliament said in a statement this afternoon that the first procedural steps have been taken and that Metsola will announce her request in plenary at the first possible opportunity, which will present itself on 16 January. After that, the request will be referred to the EP’s Committee on Legal Affairs (JURI) for a proposal for a decision.

Metsola on Monday promised no impunity whatsoever: “From the very first moment the European Parliament has done everything in its power to assist in investigations and we will continue to make sure that there will be no impunity.

“Those responsible will find this Parliament on the side of the law. Corruption cannot pay and we will do everything to fight it.”

Along such lines, she said she will be setting out her intentions for reforms in the coming weeks. These, she said, will include “an overhaul of the current rules and improving internal systems, including on enforcement.”

According to press reports, the two MEPs in question are Italian Andrea Cozzolino and Belgian Marc Tarabella.

Greek Socialist EP Vice President Eva Kaili had already been removed from her position by a landslide plenary vote of 625 to one of her fellow MEPs over her involvement in Qatargate.

She had been arrested in December and was charged with corruption and money laundering linked to Qatar’s lobbying of the EP. Belgian authorities found €150,000 in cash during a search of her apartment, while another €600,000 was found in a suitcase her father was carrying when leaving a Brussels hotel.

Maltese Prime Minister Robert Abela had last month leapt to Qatar’s defence and criticised Metsola, a Maltese political rival from the Opposition Nationalist Party, for having moved “too quickly” on the scandal.

In the same breath, he also insisted that links between Qatar and Europe, particularly in energy supply, should not be tainted by the allegations. The Shift has reported on Malta’s dealings with Qatar in eight visits in one year, including President George Vella meeting two brothers accused only two months earlier in a British court of financing terrorism in Syria.

Metsola, who described the scandal as an attack on European democracy and the EP’s pluralistic values, said she had turned down an invitation to attend the World Cup, as well as a Qatari request to address the EP because of her “concerns” about the country.