More EU MEPs to potentially lose immunity amid corruption scandal

The EU announced that it would launch proceedings to remove the parliamentary immunity from two more Parliament members (MEPs) implicated in the ongoing corruption scandal that shook Brussels in December 2022.

As the BBC reported, Parliamentary President Roberta Metsola said she had taken the move after an appeal from the Belgian police was made

Caliber.Az recalls, that four MEPs, including Vice-President and Greek national Eva Kaili, were arrested on charges of corruption and money laundering at the end of 2022, with numerous EU sources having accused Qatar of running the operation. It must be noted, that this has not been confirmed by the ongoing investigation.

Metsola - who has previously said the scandal showed that "open, free, democratic societies are under attack" - said she would now launch an "urgent procedure" to fulfill the Belgian police's request which, according to BBC sources, was made on December 30.

The request must now be filed before the entire EU parliament on 16 January, before advancing to the body's legal affairs committee.

Detained Vice-President Kaili remains in pre-trial detention, along with her life partner, Francesco Giorgi, former Italian MEP Pier Antonio Panzeri and NGO Head Niccolò Figà-Talamanca.

According to the BBC report, last month it became public that Belgium's VSSE state security service had been working on an investigation into the corruption allegations for more than a year, with the aid of other EU countries.