After a major corruption scandal, the European Parliament must be dissolved. This was expressed by Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban, TASS reported.
“The scandal in the European Parliament turned out to be indicative. Anti-corruption guarantees turned out to be completely ineffective. “If we want to regain people’s trust, it’s time to dissolve the AP.”
The new European Parliament should consist of “national deputies” and control of the EU legislature should “return to the member states.” Orbán added that this would establish “more control, accountability and trust” in the AP.
On December 15, Viktor Orban called for “draining the swamp of corruption”. “Everyone knew that Brussels was full of corruption cases, but now it has reached such a level that the police had to take action,” said the head of the Hungarian government.
He noted that authorities are still being sought, the police have confiscated millions of euros, and everyone is wondering what other politicians from Brussels are involved in corruption.
Scandal in Brussels
In early December, Belgian police detained four people, including European Parliament Vice-President Eva Kaili, on charges of forming a criminal organization, corruption and money laundering. The detainees, members of social democratic parties, are accused of taking bribes in exchange for lobbying for Qatar’s interests.
Former European Parliament Member Antonio Pantseri and President of the International Trade Union Confederation Luca Visentini were also detained. In total, the Belgian police made 15 searches. Detained politicians were arrested.
The prosecution believes that Kylie and the other defendants spread positive assessments of the situation in Qatar on the eve of the World Cup and “covered up the facts about human rights abuses in the country”. In return, they may receive money and expensive gifts.
On December 12, Greek authorities froze the assets of Eva Kaili (a politician originally from Greece). Accounts of his relatives were also arrested. On 13 December, most Members of the European Parliament supported his dismissal of the vice presidency. Kylie was expelled from her political party in Greece.
On December 20, Belgian newspaper Le Soir reported that police had also detained Kylie’s father at a hotel in Brussels. A purse with cash was found on the man – allegedly the parliamentarian handed the money over to him to hide from law enforcement.
In addition, Belgian investigators confiscated more than 1.5m euros in cash and valuable gifts from the suspects. The prime suspect, Eva Kylie, admitted to giving her father a briefcase of cash.
Former European Parliament Member Antonio Panzeri said he admitted he was partly complicit in corruption schemes – he was detained in an apartment in Brussels where €600,000 in cash was also found.
Social democrats against Orban
In 2018, the BBC reported that for the first time in its history, the European Parliament introduced a procedure to “punish” the government of an EU member state. The Hungarian government, headed by Viktor Orban, has been accused of violating the principle of separation of powers, violating political freedoms and corruption.
Orban accused MPs from the Social Democratic bloc of wanting to “punish Hungary for its fight against illegal immigration and its defense of Christian values”.
At the same time, in the summer of 2022, former Belgian Prime Minister Guy Verhofstadt told Euronews that Orban was the reason Hungary “topped the EU corruption list”.
Is von der Leyen next?
On 18 December, Newsbreak reported in an open letter from seven MEPs requesting EU officials to investigate the business of Heiko von der Leyen, husband of European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen.
Parliamentarians believe Heiko von der Leyen “has something to do with the opaque management of vaccine contracts” signed with pharmaceutical giant Pfizer.
In the letter from the Members of the European Parliament, it is stated that Orgenesis Inc., of which von der Leyen is the medical director, received a total of 320 million Euros from the European Commission.
“The fact that Heiko von der Leyen received money from the EC led by his wife turns this case into a dizzying scandal, perhaps the biggest since the founding of the EU,” the material states.
At the same time, against the background of the accusations, von der Leyen’s husband resigned. “Despite Mr von der Leyen’s resignation from the fund’s supervisory board, according to media reports, Orgenesis Italy SRL continues to participate in the project and receives grants of up to €200,000 per year. Journalists also work with Orgenesis Inc. and its subsidiaries in Europe are not registered in the Transparency Register of the European Union”.