By: Peter Truden
The arrest of S&D MEP Eva Kaili is clearly just the tip of the iceberg. Several members of the European Parliament are said to be involved and, as it now appears, the European Commission also had a part in the play.
On Thursday, October 24th, the European Parliament finally adopted the Resolution on Human Rights in the context of the FIFA World Cup in Qatar. Finally, because as many as six resolutions had previously been rejected, the European Parliament was divided.
The resolution on Qatar was proposed by the Left group in the European Parliament (GUE/NGL), the versions of the text were opposed mainly by the S&D group and the European People’s Party (EPP). According to Euractiv, both groups were said to be disturbed by the harshness of the resolution, mainly because it also included the condemnation of the death of workers during preparations for the biggest football tournament in the world. Both groups only wanted a discussion on Qatar, but not a resolution. The adopted resolution has now opened Pandora’s box.
While the EPP members strongly opposed the resolution mainly because of Qatar’s energy potential, the Socialists’ intention was clearly somewhere else. “Some were doing their job to support the EU’s interests, while others were doing it to make money,” a source told Euractiv. Police reports also show that the investigated supporters of Qatar mostly come from the S&D group and only one from the EPP.
Several S&D sources confirmed to Euractiv that Francesco Giorgi (assistant to S&D MEP Andrea Cozzolino and intimate partner of Kaili) lobbied and pressured other MEPs to avoid voting against Qatar.
“He sent messages, phoned S&D MEPs and asked them to take the floor in the discussions and support Qatar,” said a source familiar with the matter. “He even offered to argue in favour of Qatar if EU lawmakers are not well versed in the case,” another source added. The sources also said that Giorgi was the “boss” in Cozzolina’s office when it comes to Qatar.
The question that arises – given that the S&D played a major and leading role in the “protection” of Qatar, which is proven to support terrorism – is regarding the role of the Slovenian MEPs in the S&D group and how were they informed about the matter.
The media has obtained an email sent by Cozzolino to the S&D group, in which he calls on his colleagues to reject the amendment, which claims that FIFA awarded the World Cup to Qatar through bribery and corruption. Cozzolino told the Italian media that he only expressed his opinion, that he had nothing to do with Qatar and that Giorgi never pressured him when it comes to Qatar.
The media reported that the vice president of the European Commission, Margaritis Schinas, is also under investigation because of Qatargate, as he recently publicly supported Qatar. His communications adviser, Vangelis Demiris, responded on Twitter, saying the claims about Schinas’ alleged investigation were “false, non-existent and misleading”.
We have already written that the connection between the corruption scandal and billionaire George Soros has also been revealed.