The scandal marks a bad end to what had been a good year for the EU and its institutions
Save time by listening to our audio articles as you multitaskWith the investigation continuing, a mood of nervousness, confusion and indignation has descended on Brussels . There are signs pointing to the possible cause of any graft. Qatar wants its citizens to be able to take holidays in Europe without a visa, a perk offered to many rich countries. This looked to be forthcoming a week ago but is now on ice.
Questions will be raised as to how the institutions in Brussels police themselves. Awkwardly, it was the Belgian authorities who cracked the alleged corruption ring, not thes have second jobs, according to Transparency International, a pressure group. In theory they are not meant to act as lobbyists, but in practice few are pressed to give much detail on what they do.
This week’s sleaze will disrupt the European Parliament’s bid to curb corruption among the bloc’s 27 member states. Ironically, around the time when police were cordoning off parliament offices as possible crime scenes, thescored a rare success in fighting graft. On December 12th member states agreed to suspend €6.3bn ins had been among the most effective advocates of punishing corruption in Hungary, where the ruling party lavishes European taxpayers’ cash on iffy projects.
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