by Maria Serena Christmas
The flash, the allegations, the protagonists: The reconstruction of the worst case of corruption in the history of the European Union
On December 9, 2022, Croatia-Brazil and Holland-Argentina will play at the World Cup in Qatar, and the next day Morocco will defeat Portugal and advance to the semi-finals. The President of the European Parliament, Roberta Metsola, is in Malta when her mobile phone rings. The Belgian police called her back to Brussels so that they could search the house of one of the 14 Vice-Presidents, the Greek Eva Kaili, in her presence. The anti-corruption investigation began in July, but Coroner Michel Claise has been waiting for this day for a long time. The agents stormed 19 offices and apartments, from Belgium to Italy there were 8 arrests. The newspaper Le Soir is the first to break the news. Corruption, money laundering, criminal organization. It’s Qatargate, the worst scandal in the history of the European Union.
The Judge and Iphigenia
Sworn enemy of abuse and privilege, weaver of international intrigue in the mysteries he writes in his spare time, Claise aimed at the heart of a system built on the contiguity between politicians and lobbyists, on the boundary between diplomacy and interest, on the relationship between they are based on power, ideals, money. The first to get caught up in the network is Antonio Panzeri, 67, former general secretary of the Milan Chamber of Labour, MEP from 2004 to 2019 with the Group of Socialists and Democrats (first DS, then Pd, finally Article 1). Among the 19 addresses targeted by investigators is 41 rue Ducale, the headquarters of the NGO Fight Impunity, which Panzeri founded immediately after leaving the hemicycle. We are located on one of the most elegant streets in the center of Brussels, a few steps from the residence of the Belgian Prime Minister, the US Embassy and the citadel of the EU institutions, where officials, observers, spies, 12,000 registered lobbyists move (but. it is estimated that at least double). The NGO, which organizes high-level events and meetings with the declared aim of promoting human rights, can count on the authoritative profile of the founder, on the relationships built over time and on an advisory committee made up of personalities such as Emma Bonino and Federica Mogherini – completely unrelated to the scandal – left the board immediately. The agents found 600,000 euros in cash at Panzeri.
In 2019 Panzeri “handed over” to Eva Kaili, a former TV journalist and socialist MEP with studies between Thessaloniki and Harvard, his assistant Francesco Giorgi, originally from Abbiategrasso, degree in political science from the State University of Milan and sailing teacher. Today, Kaili and Giorgi, aged 44 and 35, have a 22-month-old daughter. The police confiscated 150,000 euros in cash from her apartment, and another 600,000 came from the shopping trolley that Kaili’s father Alexandros was trying to drag out of the Sofitel hotel on Place Jourdan when he was stopped by the police. Altogether seizures for 1.5 million euros. Eva denies any involvement, attributes the money to Panzeri, and in a tragic hoax not very appropriate for this tale of bribes and binge drinking, swears: I will not be Iphigenia (the daughter who in the myth Agamemnon agrees to sacrifice, to restart the blocked Greek ships to Troy in Aulis). Giorgi admits he allowed himself to be “recruited” but defends his partner, also taking responsibility for Alexandros’ escape and naming his current boss, MEP Antonio Cozzolino. Cozzolino is not under investigation or searched, but he has suspended himself from the S&D faction and in Italy he has been provisionally suspended from the Pd. The others arrested in the mega-blitz are Luca Visentini, secretary of the International Trade Union Confederation, who was later released, and Niccolò Figà-Talamanca, head of the NGO No Peace Without Justice, who is now on probation. Searches and seals in the offices of mostly Italian parliamentary assistants never fail to incite irony and outrage at the old Italian job, but the “gate” has just opened and the investigation is revealing new ramifications daily. Press sources already speak of 60 MPs involved.
The spoilers
What was the money for? The investigative trail leads to Qatar and Morocco, looking for shores inside the EU buildings to pursue strategic goals and rehabilitate their image as authoritarian states with poor human rights standards. Economic agreement, recognition of progress made. Among Qatar’s priorities, which has been infiltrating the West with investments and acquisitions ranging from defense to real estate for years and is amid an energy crisis stemming from the Ukraine war, is wanting to consolidate its leadership in liquefied natural gas exports, given the World Cup and the trial to overshadow the conditions of slavery imposed on the workers who built the stadiums, and in many cases lost their lives. Luxury, military contracts, cultural centers and mosques: in addition to being firmly rooted in the economy and the region, Doha was looking for a place in the good salon of Europe. One of the hypotheses about Qatargate is that the key tip to the Belgian services, which then forwarded the files to the judiciary, came from the Emirates, historic regional rivals. As for Morocco, which for geographical and historical reasons has older and more deeply rooted ties with Europe, the most sensitive dossiers, which required a tolerant if not complacent look, ranged from fisheries to freedom of expression and the conflict with the Fighting of the Polisario Front for the self-determination of the Saharawi people in the areas of Western Sahara. A crisis that divides the 27 and in which the EU has always maintained an ambiguous impartiality.
Spies and Gifts
From the petromonarchies of the Persian Gulf to the fogs of the Cold War in Warsaw. The network passed through the offices of the Kingdom of Morocco’s Ambassador to Poland, Abderrahim Atmoun, a long-time politician with excellent connections between Paris and Brussels, who was elected King Muhammad VI in 2019. was called to a diplomatic career and appeared in the first reconstructions of the investigation as one of the maneuvers and as an intermediary with the Rabat secret services. The papers mention “gifts” for the Italian “friend” from Morocco that would have been entrusted to Panzeri’s wife and daughters Maria Dolores Colleoni and Silvia Panzeri, both currently in custody under a European mandate: tomorrow the Brescia Court of Appeal will rule on the surrender to the Belgians. In the phone calls, the husband and wife speak of accounts to hide money and a credit card in the name of the “giant” Atmoun. Qatar would have offered the family a holiday worth 100,000 euros.
Metsola announces rapid review of transparency rules. The deepest wound is the suspicion inherent in the struggles of a principled Europe. The principles that are its strength, especially in the eyes of those who wish to corrupt it.
December 18, 2022 (change December 18, 2022 | 07:22)
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