Against a backdrop of accusations that she is implicated in an alleged Qatari operation to bribe EU officials known as ‘Qatargate’, Greek MEP, Eva Kaili, insists Qatar should be regarded as a progressive nation, at least when it comes to workers’ rights.
Despite the bribery allegations, the Greek MEP defends what she says is Qatar’s positive reputation.
Speaking to Italian paper Corriere Della Sera, Kaili said “the EU regards Qatar as a key partner”. Her comments came amid her justifying her meetings with the Qatari Labour Minister, Ali bin Samikh Al-Marri.
She also claimed that Qatar has been described “as a leader in the Arab world in the field of workers’ rights”.
The majority of Qatar’s workforce are migrants from India and Africa and many have allegedly been made to work in dangerous conditions. It is claimed more than 6,500 workers died in the building of the infrastructure that enabled Qatar to host the recent football World Cup, leading some European Union politicians to describe it as a “World Cup of blood”.
While Qatar had introduced some reforms, in March, unions representing many migrant workers reported that there had been no significant change for those employed in the country.
Kaili faces charges for her alleged involvement in Qatargate, one of the biggest corruption scandals to hit the EU. She, along with several other left-wing MEPs and their assistants, is accused of accepting bribes from Qatar in exchange for enabling the tiny Middle Eastern country to influence EU parliamentary decision making.
In response to the allegations regarding Qatargate, Kaili turned to media outlets across Europe over the weekend to proclaim her innocence. Among them, she spoke to El Mundo in Spain, Libération in France, and Italy’s Corriere Della Sera, denouncing what she called her mistreatment by the Belgian state, and claiming her ignorance of the entire alleged Qatari bribe scheme.
The investigation of Kaili came as a result of her fellow MEP, the Italian, Pier Panzeri, striking a plea deal with authorities over the scandal and accusing her of involvement. Kaili maintains that “Panzeri’s repentance and confessions were obtained under threat”. Francesco Giorgi, Kaili’s domestic partner, is also among suspected players in Qatargate. Giorgi worked under Panzeri in Brussels.
“The message was clear,” she stated. “If you name names, we’ll offer you a deal and free your wife and daughter from prison,” she said in reference to Panzeri’s wife and daughter, who had been arrested by Italian police at the same time he was picked up.
She also criticised Belgium’s law enforcement authorities, saying Belgian police methods “are not worthy of a constitutional state”. She claimed her lawyers had discovered that MEPs were being monitored by Belgian secret services, which, she said, “should raise more concerns about the health of our European democracy”.
“I think this is the real scandal,” she said.
Kaili claimed she panicked when she was informed that Giorgi had been arrested, rushing to his office at their shared home, where she had accidentally discovered a sum of money in a suitcase that appeared to belong to Panzeri.
“I couldn’t figure out what had happened, but I wanted to get that money away from home,” she said. “I absolutely didn’t know what that money really represented.”
