Looks like our decision to hold the #Nativity at 6 pm instead of 4 pm was vindicated.
#WorldCup #QatarCorruption

Looks like our decision to hold the #Nativity at 6 pm instead of 4 pm was vindicated.
#WorldCup #QatarCorruption

The #QatarCorruption scandal is rocking the European Parliament 💰

https://bit.ly/3WdVE95

Weirdness in Brussels.
Belgian news weekly #Knack reports that the President of the #europeanparliament Roberta #Metsola , goes to #Anthisnes, a suburb south of #Liege, an hour and a half away from Brussels, on a cold wintery Saturday evening, to be present at a home search of the MEP Marc Tarabella.
https://www.knack.be/nieuws/wereld/europa/corruptioneurope-huiszoeking-bij-belgisch-europarlementslid-marc-tarabella-ps/
Why? It doesn't make sense. Panic?
#qatarcorruption

The home of a second MEP was searched last night in the context of the #qatarcorruption investigation. According to the Belgian news weekly Knack, the search took place in the presence of Roberta #Metsola, the president of the European Parliament.
https://www.knack.be/nieuws/wereld/europa/corruptioneurope-huiszoeking-bij-belgisch-europarlementslid-marc-tarabella-ps/

We largely know how money (called "donations") works in USA politics, but things are murky in European politics (because here it is called "bribery", so much more underground). That doesn't of course mean it doesn't happen on this side of the pond. The #Qatarcorruption scandal lifted the curtains a bit, but our journalists have to find ways for much more to surface with all these gas and nuclear interests in the energy transition.
@michiel @gretathunberg @fff @A_LisaCorrado @rbreich

This #EuropeanParliament #Qatarcorruption scandal is going to spread. How is it possible to influence the vote of so many S&D MEPs by corrupting just one?
(See voting records on page 134 and onwards).
https://www.lemonde.fr/en/international/article/2022/12/11/european-parliament-jolted-by-investigation-into-alleged-corruption-benefitting-qatar_6007306_4.html
https://www.europarl.europa.eu/doceo/document/PV-9-2022-11-24-RCV_FR.pdf
At least some S&D MEPs (like the Italians Irene Tinagli and Pierfrancesco Majorino) have behaved honourably.

Italian newspaper Domani (the best!) ends its article about the #qatarcorruption in the #EuropeanParliament (written by #VanessaRicciardi with three paragraphs worth translating:

Panzeri, who was found with €500,000 in cash at home, had a very close political life with [Italian politician and former premier] Massimo D'Alema, so much so that he left the [Social] Democrats in 2017 to join [the left wing] Articolo 1 [party] together with the former premier. [1/3]