Decade’s Biggest Corruption Scandal Unfolds in Brussels, Says MP

The communications director of Hungary’s governing party harshly criticized the EU’s political elite over the Qatargate corruption scandal.

For twelve years, since the formation of the center-right government, Hungary has been hearing from the European left that there is a problem with the rule of law in the country, Fidesz communications director István Hollik told public radio. Commenting on the so-called Qatargate corruption scandal in which among others, the former vice-president of the European Parliament, Greek socialist Eva Kaili, is also involved, he said:

We are being lectured by those who are involved in the biggest corruption scandal of the decade.”

Hollik said that Brussels is not capable of defining Europe’s interests and acting accordingly. The EU has mismanaged all crises, he added. The politician said that the “internationalist network” had not disappeared but had been transformed, weaving a web around the EU’s institutions, making it impossible for MEPs to address real problems.

Dans le cadre d’un dossier du Parquet Fédéral de suspicions de corruption, visant des personnes actives au sein du Parlement européen, la Police Judiciaire Fédérale a saisi près d’1,5 millions d’euros lors de perquisitions menées en région bruxelloise. pic.twitter.com/2UfK2zNtnm

— Police Fédérale (@policefederale) December 14, 2022

Belgian police seized nearly 1.5 million euros in cash from the homes of Kaili and former Italian MEP Pier Antonio Panzeri.

In line with Hollik’s words, European socialists are trying to distance themselves from the scandal to such an extent that the Greek left-wing PASOK party is now claiming that Eva Kaili was a “Trojan horse” for the conservative New Democracy. All this in the light of the fact that

Kaili was recently influential enough to be a vice-president of the European Parliament for the left-wing S&D group.

Last week, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán posted a meme pointing out that the Qatargate scandal is rather ironic from a Hungarian perspective.

Good morning to the European Parliament! @Europarl_EN pic.twitter.com/VYXGeSOwul

— Orbán Viktor (@PM_ViktorOrban) December 12, 2022

News portal Origo writes that the corruption scandal involves at least sixty people, most of them politicians from the European Socialists (PES) or the European People’s Party (EPP), adding that Qatar might not have been the only country to have “bought” left-wing MEPs to lobby for the Middle Eastern monarchy, but Morocco is also increasingly implicated. Referring to Politico, it states that more information had emerged about how the Arab country was trying to influence EU decision-making. “This sheds new light on why Brussels and the left supported illegal migration,” the Hungarian news portal notes.

Featured photo via the European Parliament