Corruption scandal in Brussels throws Qatar’s image campaign back years

Brussels It was not an easy performance for Roberta Metsola, President of the European Parliament. At the EU summit on Thursday, she spoke to the heads of state and government about the corruption affair that is rocking Brussels. She will do everything to restore the reputation of her house, she announced. “Parliament is not for sale to foreign actors who want to weaken us.”

An MEP, who until a few days ago was one of Metsola’s deputies, has been in custody since the weekend: The Greek social democrat Eva Kaili is suspected of having received bribes from Qatar. Belgian investigators have seized heaps of euro bills in her apartment.

Kaili denies any guilt, but has yet to provide a convincing explanation as to how the bags full of cash got into her apartment. Her friend Francesco Giorgi, on the other hand, apparently confesses.