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European parliament VP taken into custody
- f1refly 4y agoI was hoping so much this would be about Ursula von der Leyen
- Markoff 4y ago
- blumomo 4y agoNot yet! And not as long as the masses aren’t yet coming to understand this.
- mabbo 4y agoHow fun. The MEP who loudly announces how great Qatar's labor rights are is found with hundreds of thousands of euros in cash, allegedly from "a gulf country". Presuming the allegations are true, all I can think is how basic the whole affair is. TV has made me come to expect something more complicated and devious.
- thepangolino 4y agoAnything more devious doesn't make the news. Had she had a partner start a startup and fill in all the propriate tax forms after recieving millions of Euros you'd at most have heard about "possible conflicts of interests", not blatant corruption like here.
- greggarious 4y agosounds like a great way to spark riots
- mytailorisrich 4y agoQatar is the second largest exporter of LNG. They can do what they want and it seems like a stupid mistake if they were indeed bribing EU politicians in cash... That being said, earlier this year there was a story here in the UK about King Charles once receiving 1 million in cash (in a shopping bag!) from the Gulf as 'charity donation'... so perhaps EU politicians should setup more charities. Edit: in fairness, the cash donation to Charles' charity was correctly booked and reported in the charity's accounts and so nothing much happened when the story broke. But bags of cash do tend to raise eyebrows and the conclusion was that it'd be best not to accept them in the future...
- b112 4y agoBut bags of cash do tend to raise eyebrows and the conclusion was that it'd be best not to accept them in the future... You can raise your eyebrows all you wish, I'll stick with the bag of cash, thank you.
- Krasnol 4y agoOther media already report that it indeed might be Qatar: https://www.tagesschau.de/ausland/europa/kaili-festnahme-korruption-europaparlament-101.html https://www.tagesschau.de/ausland/europa/kaili-festnahme-kor... (German)
- notright6 4y ago
- jabiko 4y agoI think its important to know that there are 14 Vice-Presidents of the European Parliament in total. One of them was taken into custody.
- deleted 4y ago[deleted]
- wizeman 4y ago> there are 14 Vice-Presidents of the European Parliament in total Of course. First rule in government spending: why have one vice-president when you can have 14 at fourteen times the price?
- jessaustin 4y agoThis is why there are nearly 700 general officers in USA military...
- dijit 4y agoIt’s easy to paint it this way, but consider the fact that concentrations of power in few people almost always leads to gross corruption in manners that are uncorrectable (except with revolution). This is why some people do not want small government. Not because they argue that large government is efficient or cheap: it’s that there are more checks and balances on power. I think CGP Greys video on “rules for rulers” illustrates the point quite clearly. https://youtu.be/rStL7niR7gs https://youtu.be/rStL7niR7gs
- ipaddr 4y agoWe see this across the Atlanic in Canada where each government starts off with few cabinet minister. After a few elections new departments are setup, everyone in the government party ends up as a minister or assistant. The bigger the government usually the more corruption until they change parties and repeat again.
- tupolef 4y agoSo we multiplied the price of the ticket to corrupt the whole parliament. But you know what, actually this parliament is made in such a way that there is no need to bribe the majority of the parties. It is enough to have a small blocking or active percentage. On the other hand, at the European commission, where the real power is, we don't have 14 presidents and there have been corruptions, serious corruptions. The truth is that there is 14 positions because it was necessary to give empty chairs to all the political parties of the member countries. In Europe, no politician, no matter how many times he or she has been defeated or scandalized, has difficulty finding a job.
- yrgulation 4y ago
- dekken_ 4y agoIt would be nice if they had to justify their existence much like those in academia.
- bionade24 4y agoThis is a just title. German parliament also has multiple "Bundestagsvizeprädsidenten", theoretically one parliament vice president for each faction.
- SaintSeiya 4y ago[flagged]
- epilys 4y agoThe political party is calling itself socialist, but it's fiscally conservative, supports the free market and Keynesian economics. It's considered center in Greece.
- drexlspivey 4y agoThe party is considered center-left in Greece but inside the US political spectrum it would be far-left (similar positions to Bernie Sanders)
- greggarious 4y agoSo they’re socialist like North Korea is democratic? Got it.
- epilys 4y agoThe name is meaningless but the similarity ends there. Basically, left politics were heavily suppressed after WWII. The then-famous Greek Resistance was left-wing self-organized militia. After WWII ended though, the British armed right wing organizations including former Nazi collaborators in order to wipe out opposition to British interests[0]. Eventually a civil war happened in 1946[1]. Being left-wing was criminalized in 1950, as part of the Cold War and western influence. Eventually the CIA backed a military coup[2] that lasted until 1976. This is just a summary, but you can see why "socialism" has a different meaning in Greece. It simply meant progressive values but not left wing. [0]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dekemvriana https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dekemvriana [1]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greek_Civil_War https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greek_Civil_War [2]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Regime_of_the_Colonels#American_influence_in_Greece https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Regime_of_the_Colonels#America...
- greggarious 4y ago
- intunderflow 4y agoThe only way to detain someone with parliamentary immunity is if they are caught in the act, so they must have caught her with the 600k.
- denton-scratch 4y agoHaving 600K isn't in itself an "act". And they must have some reason for mentioning a "Gulf state". I wonder if they've had her and the others under surveillance, and nabbed her while brown envelopes were passing back and forth.
- spapas82 4y agoShe had the money hidden in her house. Her father was caught with a suitcase full of money.
- arlort 4y agoI am not sure she had parliamentary immunity. It seems like that only applies during sessions of the EP, which isn't in session right now. She would probably be able to claim immunity to attend the session next week, but as the first thing will probably be to lift her immunity I doubt she'll bother
- tremon 4y agoParliamentary immunity for MEPs does not extend to their privates lives. MEPs are only immune from prosecution for public statements they make (like, for example, "Qatar has a great human rights track record. It's the best, the greatest"), not for anything else they do.
- AshamedCaptain 4y agoIt depends on the definition of "parliamentary immunity" in their home country, though. In some EU countries, it is indeed practically immune unless "caught in the act" (e.g. inviolability in France).
- pfoof 4y agoWell in poland immunity also prevents politicians from getting speeding tickets as long as they are doing something work related (at least officially)
- epilys 4y agoFor context, this person was part of PASOK[0], one of the two political parties that created the Greek debt crisis and is rife with corruption scandals [1][2][3][4][5]. She was removed from the party some days ago. The other political party is in power today. They both plundered the Greek public sector, privatized public owned industries and subsequently cooked the numbers to let Greece in the Eurozone even with the massive debt they had caused. Vote abstention is around 40-45% in Greece, and higher among the youth. [0]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PASOK https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PASOK [1]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andreas_Papandreou#%22Koskotas_scandal%22,_trial_and_return_to_power https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andreas_Papandreou#%22Koskotas... [2]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Akis_Tsochatzopoulos#Corruption_accusations https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Akis_Tsochatzopoulos#Corruptio... [3]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lagarde_list https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lagarde_list [4]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Novartis#Corruption https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Novartis#Corruption [5]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Siemens_Greek_bribery_scandal https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Siemens_Greek_bribery_scandal
- 4gotunameagain 4y agoProbably worth adding that a hefty number of scandals involving corrupt Greek politicians had huge German companies involved (Siemens, HDW, Rheinmetall..) Plus Germany benefited greatly from the introduction of import based economies in the Eurozone, and the financial crisis. It is no wonder they like corrupt politicians in power.
- ChuckNorris89 4y agoSame with Romania and Eastern Europe in general. Western EU countries criticize them immensely for corruption in the public eye, yet their governments, banks and major corporations profit immensely from the business deals corruption there enables them to do, and so they have a vested interest to keep just enough corruption there so they can keep profiteering, while maintaining enough rule of law so that their investments there are safe and ensures the free flow of profits back home.
- 4y ago
- akie 4y agoI really dislike the whole cynical "all politicians are thieves" vibe going on in here. Yes, this politician was probably for sale, she took money from dubious sources, AND SHE WAS ARRESTED. I think that's fantastic, because it shows that even the powerful can be held to account. This is most certainly not the case everywhere.
- BogdanPetre 4y agotip of the iceberg...
- eurasiantiger 4y agoSnowy peak :)
- xwolfi 4y agoNow I agree with you, but what about all the arrests of politicians in China ... some are revenge by other corrupts, some are truly about justice... There are places were all is corrupt, and it can happen to your country too :)
- duxup 4y agoSeparation of powers, strong institutions and an independent judiciary is very important. We’ve seen that in the US where judges appointed by a politician will/can rule against them in court cases.
- LudwigNagasena 4y agoSeparation of powers sounds like a joke when all modern liberal democracies are run by parties, not individual persons. It’s, for example, common for senators to become presidents in the US. Yeah, a judge can rule against a politician that appointed them, but (1) did they rule against their party? (2) is it such a high bar that shows an expected level of separation of powers?
- stavros 4y agoSees article "Please let it not be a Greek please let it not be a Greek" clicks sigh
- NKosmatos 4y agoThe majority of our politicians (from all political parties) are corrupt and are exploiting the loopholes of the system. Isn’t this what the majority of the people are also doing? There is a small percentage who are honest/decent/just but not enough critical mass to trigger a change. Coming back to topic, she was/is involved with blockchain/cryptos EU legislation as well, and there were some “talks” about how she benefited from her participation.
- motohagiography 4y agoAm I the only one who, whenever I read stories about politicians being arrested, I just assume that their backing coalition wants them replaced with someone who can enrich the coalition more boldly, and are just calling in the kompromat lever that qualified the politician to be put in the fronting position in the first place? Nobody would ever give authority or levers of power to someone they couldn't control, and the job of someone in power is to keep the rewards coming to the people who keep them there. Corruption is a scourge, but in most places it's the cultural norm and not a deviation. The pitch for leadership is, "I can return this much to you for this long, and here is the kompromat that will force me to resign, as collateral." Political leadership isn't the power, it's the symbolic meaning of becoming the name in history you believe is meaningful. Power is invisible and only felt. Acquiring that is a very different path, and its job is to keep the front of the house sustained and managed. The debate and and policies other than spending are just a cheap spectacle. So on this MEP being busted, I'm "Shocked, shocked!" to find out there was corruption going on in there.
- andix 4y agoJust to give it some context, there are 14 VPs to the European parliament. Only the president and the 1st VP play a significant role. She was neither.
- elkos 4y agoEva Kaili, the MEP that got taken into custody, has several times talked about the transformative role of Blockchain, AI and FinTech. As a person that is a bit cynical with overpromises around such technologies I can't help wonder how much of her support on such tech was sincere.
- oriettaxx 4y agoOmg did you listen to what that member of the EU parliament says in the interview in the video? - "there is a very large majority of parliamentarians who do not that dirty game" - a "large majority" do not? ... so a minority does?
- oriettaxx 4y agono news about this in Al Jazeera https://www.aljazeera.com/search/Eva%20Kaili https://www.aljazeera.com/search/Eva%20Kaili
- DrNosferatu 4y agoDamn it, those South Europeans again!
- rad_gruchalski 4y agoShe is one of the people behind the Cyber Resilience Act, recently discussed here: https://blog.nlnetlabs.nl/open-source-software-vs-the-cyber-resilience-act/ https://blog.nlnetlabs.nl/open-source-software-vs-the-cyber-....
- donclark 4y agoIs there a percentage ranking of the possibility of a -or- most politicians being corrupt? Odds are? Asking for a friend that is thinking of going into politics.
- boycottqatar 4y agoJesus killing journalists to propagating anti semitic content through Al Jazeera to funding terrorist, is there any level to which Qatar won't stoop? [ As per European Parliament According to reliable intelligence sources, Qatar and Saudi Arabia are the main funders of Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS). The Governments of Germany and the USA have also accused the two countries of financing and supporting ISIS.](https://www.europarl.europa.eu/doceo/document/P-8-2014-007445_EN.html https://www.europarl.europa.eu/doceo/document/P-8-2014-00744...) It has been even brought before the US Congress as well how Qatar is an active sponsor of terrorism ( something which Al Jazeera won't highlight) [According to official US Committee on Foreign Affairs, Qatar has been known to be a permissive environment for terror financing, reportedly funding U.S. designated foreign terrorist organizations, such as Hamas, Al qaeda and ISIS, as well as several extremist groups operating in Syria. At least one high-ranking Qatari official provided support to the mastermind of the 9/11. Hamas leader, Khaled Meshaal, also made Doha his headquarters for years while the Qatari's--with the Qatari's Government support and even the Muslim Brotherhood has received significant support from Qatar. Of course, not all of this is supported by the government in Doha. Many individuals and charities in Qatar have been known to raise large sums of money for al-Qaeda, the Nusra front, Hamas, and even ISIS.](https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/CHRG-115hhrg26427/html/CHRG-115hhrg26427.htm https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/CHRG-115hhrg26427/html/C...)
- greatgib 4y agoTo me, it would be fair that she get the punishment that she would get if she did commit such a crime in the Qatar. I guess something like death penalty for betraying the kingdom dictators. Should be ok with her as she was supporting the fact that human rights are ok there...