Thread: It’s no great surprise that the European Parliament is engulfed in a corruption scand

It’s no great surprise that the European Parliament is engulfed in a corruption scandal

Eva Kaili, pictured in 2011, has spoken in defense of Qatar in the European Parliament. She traveled to Qatar shortly before the start of the soccer World Cup.

The European Union has spent the past few days reeling from one of the worst scandals to hit Brussels in decades.

Belgian police said late last week that they had carried out raids and arrested four people in connection with an ongoing corruption probe into alleged payments and gifts from Qatar to members of the European Parliament (MEPs) and their staff.

The investigation targets alleged acts of “corruption” and “money laundering” by an organized group aiming to “influence the economic and political decisions of the European Parliament” through money and gifts, Belgian public broadcaster and CNN affiliate RTBF reports, citing the prosecutor’s office.

The most prominent of those arrested is Greek MEP Eva Kaili, who at the time of her arrest was one of 14 vice presidents of the Parliament, a role of which she has since been stripped. Both Qatar and Kaili have denied any wrongdoing.

Kaili did not appear at a scheduled hearing on Wednesday, and was remanded in custody until she appears before a court on December 22, Belgium’s federal prosecutor’s office said Wednesday.

Federal prosecutors confirmed a “large-scale investigation” was conducted into the alleged criminal activity, corruption, and money laundering activities within the European Parliament on Wednesday. Kaili and three other people were arrested Friday over an ongoing corruption probe into alleged payments and gifts by Qatar to the parliament’s members and staff conducted by the Belgian Federal Prosecutor’s Office.

Aiossa believes that institutional corruption is only a small part of what would make an MEP such an inviting target for those seeking to influence European politics.

“The Parliament collectively has a lot of power over the direction of policy that provides access to an enormous market of over 400 million citizens. The MEPs themselves, however, often have a very low profile outside of the Brussels bubble, which probably helps avoid scrutiny.”

Human rights resolution

It’s not just in policy that MEPs can use their position to leverage power. Bill Newton Dunn, a former British MEP, explains that “when the European Parliament publishes a resolution on a major issue, the international media very often picks it up as the voice of Europe. Collectively, the voices of MEP do carry

It'''s no great surprise that the European Parliament has a corruption problem | CNN

Originally Posted by Norton

It’s no great surprise that the European Parliament is engulfed in a corruption scandal

The way the title is written , ig seems to suggest to me that there is something wrong with the EU that makes it a candidate for corruption, and we should not be surprised.
It is IMO no more or no less than any other institution. If anything the EU is better than others in that it has uncovered it and unlike other is doing something about it.
Why should we be surprised? are there any other such organizations that are not subject to corruption? Can you name one?