by Sarantis Michalopoulos
A vote at the European Parliament’s Committee on Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs (LIBE) on Qatar’s visa liberalisation exposes Greek MEP Eva Kaili as she was not a member of the committee, along with the Socialists and Democrats (S&D) who attempted to hide it.
During the previous plenary session of the EU House, Eva Kaili participated in the LIBE committee and voted in favour of Qatar’s visa liberalisation.
It was the same period when Kaili spoke in the plenary, saying Qatar is a “frontrunner in labour rights”.
However, Greek MEGA TV channel revealed that Kaili was not a committee member at the time and EU lawmakers present in the LIBE committee wondered what Kaili was doing there.
Kaili was sitting at the back of the venue where the vote took place in order not to be visible, a source said.
“We were surprised to see Kaili in the vote”, an MEP member of the LIBE committee told EURACTIV.
EURACTIV was informed that it is common for MEPs unable to be present at a vote to ask a colleague from their group to represent them. However, in this case, all LIBE S&D members were present.
At the end of the voting, an additional vote could not be explained. When MEPs realised it was Kaili’s vote, they started asking what was happening.
The rapporteur of the file was another S&D member, German MEP Birgit Sippel from SPD, who, in the end, withdrew her vote, and Kaili’s vote was counted.
“We saw rapporteur Sippel holding the voting card and withdrawing her vote in the end”, another MEP told EURACTIV.
“The socialist group obviously did not want to be exposed and decided to replace Sippel’s vote with Kaili’s one”, the same MEP added.
Belgian media reported that Kaili’s partner, Francesco Giorgi, told Belgian justice that he was responsible for the scandal and that Kaili was not related and should be released.
However, the document [see below] published by MEGA TV caused shockwaves in Greece, and according to estimates, it’s expected to play a decisive role in the case.
Kaili is currently under arrest, and on 22 December, the Belgian authorities will decide whether she will remain in jail until her trial.
According to Belgian media, a key factor in whether she will remain imprisoned will be her ability to influence the continuation of the investigation if she is released.
Since the scandal erupted, Kaili has been removed from S&D and her national Pan-Hellenic Socialist Movement party (Pasok).
Meanwhile, another investigation against Kaili and her conservative colleague Maria Spyraki from the ruling New Democracy party (EPP) was launched on Thursday by EU Prosecutor Laura Kovesi.
According to press reports, both cases are related to the payments of parliamentary assistants.
In the case of Spyraki, Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis recently announced that she would be a candidate for the upcoming national elections due in 2023.
For her part, Spyraki said that she would request the suspension of her party membership,
“I don’t want to be any shadows […] I want my immunity to be waived quickly as it is very important to proceed immediately,” the conservative MEP added.
*first published in: Euractiv.com
By: N. Peter Kramer
