€633,000 in cash just “resting” in an MEP’s apartment. Is this a one off or the tip of a large EU government scandal?
Still nothing but hysterics. I'll just consider this debunked.
Blind loyalism to anything is always a dead end and always head in the sand.
Look at the head of European Movement International, a group dedicated to supporting the EU and gets funded by the EU.
He called out the EU for side stepping this issue and is worried that it will damage the Eu.
Screaming by jingo and accusing him of being a lundy is not defending the EU, is not siding with those who are Anti EU.
He is just pointing out the obvious.
There's no point in engaging if you're going gaslight.
Whether people have made snide comments or guilt by association inferences, claiming that EU bribe-takers are probably secretly anti-EU is an utterly desperate comeback.
Even a Conservaphobe like yourself can appreciate that surely.
Netherlands plan on bringing in a new law for the plebs to counter money laundering. Meanwhile politicians have thousands hidden in the knicker drawers at home.
No evidence. As usual.
Looking at transparency international European countries become more corrupt the further east and south you go.
The Nordics,Britain, Germany the least, ourselves quite good and then on and on down.
Anyone who has experience of business in a France will see how sown up things can be.
Corruption is a part of human nature but it festers more in some places, a jingoistic defence of the EU is akin to FF in the 80s, head in the sand.
A lot of people who were electoral liabilities were often dumped or promoted in to the EU.
Many leading EU figures have serious corruption scandals hanging over them, Ursula VDL being one. I'm talking about the defence budget scandal, not the Pfizer one, that's still brewing. The European Court of Auditors reported that the Commission refused to pass on any information on the matter, the EU ombudsman said the commission was practicing maladministration in refusing his freedom of information request.
The standard response will be to accuse the EU ombudsman and the EU court of Auditors of being EU skeptic.
This Qatari affair is tip of the Iceberg and at the milder end of the spectrum.
There's always a healthy supply of snide comments about the EU being seen as perfect whenever something like this happens, rare as it is.
As has been said, this is a party matter and the person involved has been arrested. It's not the silver bullet Europhobes think it is.
What does 'liking' the EU have to do with whether or not someone is corrupt?
Desperate.
" I never noticed that under the bed before " 🤣
The EU didnt react at all, it was the Belgian feds who rumbled this little scheme. In fact the Euro lads are currently dancing around addressing the issue at al
https://www.politico.eu/article/eu-leaders-sideline-qatar-scandal-corruption-election-european-council-euco-summit/
No suprise that an parliamentarians who operate outside of the oversight provided by a national electorate or press (for whatever good that is these days) are taking massive bungs.
Eva Kaili's lawyers say that she has no idea where 100's of thousands of Euro's came from. Also her father was caught trying to flee the country with a suitcase of cash on Friday. It also sounds like it was not just Qatar who have been paying bags of cash over
She will be singing like a canary soon enough with other prominent names starting to be mentioned already
You can assume that there will be attempts to corrupt governmental institutions. Finding evidence of such attempts is surprising and, to be honest, not that shocking.
The real issues are, (a) how do the authorities react to corruption attempts, and (b) how successful are such attempts?
As to reaction, the EU has reacted vigorously on this occasion — multiple arrests, immediate suspension of the MEP concerned from her parliamentary Vice-President position in a vote passed by a large majority, pressure on her to resign from parliament altogether. This contrasts favourably with reactions in some member states (and former member states; contrast the treatment afforded to Eva Kaili with Boris Johnson's attempts to protect Owen Paterson).
As to how successful the attempt was, we don't know the answer to that yet. To what extent did the Qataris get what they were trying to buy? We don't even know what it was they were trying to buy, much less whether they got it. In general this can be a problem, because a lot of corruption is not specifically goal-oriented. A property developer might pay someone a wodge of money in order to secure approval of this particule planning application, and that does happen. But I think much more common is the payment of money, provisions of gifts, etc to secure a generally favourable attitude. Specific favours might be called in later, or they might not. If they are, there may be no obvious link to the money or gifts, which may be well in the past, and may indeed have been openly declared at the time.
Tip of the iceberg.
Shocking but not surprising.
No theres no corruption in Ireland, I just dont buy it.
not much of a sauce person to be honest, but im not completely sold there now....
...again, theres corruption in every country, including our little one....
Really?
Is there a price to calling bullshit?
You could check the corruption perception index compiled by transparency.org.
Bulgaria is the lowest rank of all the EU countries. Greece is 3 places higher.
Now. What sauce would you like with your own words.
if you re gonna name and shame, shur you might as well as name every other eu country, including ireland!
how does one go about confirming that some countries are more corrupt than others? i think i ll call bullsh1t on this one!
Of course it does.
But some places are more corrupt than others.
I dont see any reason not to name.
Facts are facts. Bulgaria and Greece are very corrupt countries.
corruption is part and parcel of governance, you d be naïve to think it doesnt happen here to! no need to be naming and shaming!
If one were to hang out with Howard Marks, and cheech and chong, thats a sort of a tacit confession that one might smoke the odd joint.
EU has Greece and Bulgaria as members.
Thats kind of a confession in itself.
who has made out that the EU is incorruptible? do you have any idea how stupid that sounds?
yes
It would prove there was corruption in the EU institutions, yes. Just as the events which actually have happened show that there is corruption in the EU institutions.
It would be a big mistake, though, to suggest that EU institutions are inherently corrupt, or are corrupt in a way that the institutions of national governments are not. The combination of incentives which produces corruption in the EU institutions exists also, and perhaps even more strongly, at the national level, so it would be very surprising if there were not similar problems in national governmental institutions. The acid test is not whether there is corruption, or potential corruption, but how it is dealt with.
But this is not a story about the EU. Nigel Farage and Ann Widdecombe could theoretically have been two of the MEPs accepting bribes from the Qataris at some point....would that prove the EU was corrupt?
Is it?
Eu is made out to be incorruptible and a bastion of freedom Everything they do and say is for the common good of the EU. Even Euronews is reporting it.
Classic story hyped as sexy scandal.
Oooh a politician found taking backhander.
Why I never.
Give me a random national newspaper.
There are clearly issues with lobbying and / or bribes in the European Parliament, though how widespread remains to ascertain. There are 700 MEPs but only a small number of implicated ones - it seems the Qataris may have been engaging in the equivalent of "sports washing" i.e. trying to improve their image on the international stage, perhaps get these guys to speak up in favour of the country in the Parliament or something.
Really what party will we be voting for it it's so popular ? If it was a large enough issue there would be talk of leaving. All the major parties must be missing a trick for votes.
