Qatar “spent a lot of money”, possibly with payments to MEPs, to guarantee the “softness” of the European Parliament (EP) towards the country, Italian MEP Dino Giarrusso, who is also the subject of dubious approaches by officials, told Lusa Qatari diplomats. .
“Shortly after my election in 2019, I was approached by employees of the Qatari embassy in Belgium, who arranged a meeting with my parliamentary assistant,” the MEP, who joined the “Friends of Qatar” parliamentary association, said in an interview. with Lusa. “But then she distanced herself from him and from policies favorable to this country, such as those of the EP vice-president, Eva Kaili, who was arrested a week ago in connection with this case.
Giarrusso said an aide of his even met with Qatari officials, in a “strange and nebulous” environment.
“These officials did not propose cultural exchanges and cooperation, but talked about travel and a general friendship with Qatar without any specific reason,” said Lusa, the MEP.
They are accused by the Belgian justice of having accepted material offers from Qatar to influence the EP in matters relating to this country, in addition to Kaili, his colleague Francesco Giorgi and the former MEP of the Democratic Party Pier Antonio Panzeri.
Dino Giarrusso, who in the meantime left the 5-Star Movement for which he was elected, vehemently affirms today that he has always made statements against the attribution of the world championships to Qatar.
“When in 2021 the reports prepared by international organizations such as Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International came out, denouncing serious human rights violations in Qatar in preparation for the World Cup, I canceled my membership in the association. [de amizade] to mark even more the distance from this country”, assures Giarrusso.
The MEP says that he has also been part of “friendship” associations with other countries, but that the attitude of the Qatari leaders in that first meeting left him perplexed.
“For someone to improve their reputation, they have to behave well, not expect a parliamentarian to speak well of himself by offering trips and dinners,” adds Giarrusso.
Giarrusso explains that he knew Kaili and that he never spoke to her about Qatar, but he categorically rejects the positions of the former EP deputy in favor of the Arab country.
“They are very wrong [as posições a favor do Catar]🇧🇷 But, in any case, it seems that she was not the only one in Parliament to express positions of support for that Arab country”, she told Lusa.
According to Giarrusso, “Qatar managed to carry out a very articulated activity, spending a lot of money, paying many collaborators, non-governmental organizations and perhaps even deputies, and that activity made these people soften towards that country.”
The MEP considers that the role of parliamentary collaborators is central to this story, who are often a kind of “shadow parliamentarians”, in the sense of filtering emails, studying dossiers and helping the parliamentarian to understand the issues that are being discussed. they are trying on the PD.
“I would not be surprised if, in addition to Giorgi, the magistrates found a network of unfaithful collaborators who used their role for other purposes, to influence the words, the trials, the votes, the resolutions, the interventions of the parliamentarians with whom they worked That would explain why there are so many offices of parliamentary collaborators that are subject to seizures”, concluded Giarrusso.
As part of the case, 20 searches have been carried out so far, seizures have been made in 10 offices of parliamentary collaborators and more than one and a half million euros in cash have been found.
Source: TSF
