Snygg talman i EU-parlamentet gripen i razzia

It is, without question, the biggest bribery scandal in the history of the European Union’s institutions, and it could well get much worse, with reports that up to 60 MEPs could be dragged into it.

Panzeri listed as 'friend' in Rabat cables since 2014
Former EU MEP appears in diplomatic cables over agriculture deal

20 DECEMBER, 17:56

(ANSAmed) - BRUSSELS, 20 DECEMBER - Relations and contacts between former MEP Pier Paolo Panzeri - who was arrested in Belgium for corruption in the case referred to as Qatargate - and Morocco appear to have started between 2012 and 2014 during the negotiations over the EU-Morocco agreement on agricultural products. This appeared in an internal note of the Moroccan diplomatic mission in Brussels, which commented developments over the vote at the euro chamber between Europe and Morocco and the effects on the Western Sahara separatist issue, which was the real point of interest of Morocco. In a 2012 document the name of Panzeri already appeared for his positions that differed from those of the Socialist group.

"The attitude of Socialists on the other hand appears less clear. Within the S&D group there was strong pressure exercised against the agreement, in the backdrop of the impact it could possibly have on European agriculture but also for the Western Sahara question", explains the diplomatic mission in a document destined to the Moroccan ministry of Foreign Affairs. "There is a strong group within S&D that is guided by the President of the Maghreb Delegation, Pier Antonio Panzeri", that "pushes for a separation between the agricultural agreement and the Western Sahara issue, while still promising to hold a debate on the issue before competent authorities within the European Parliament, in particular the Foreign Affairs Committee (AFET), explains the document which has now been published on a Moroc-leaks.com portal.

Two years after this document was issued, in September 2014, Panzeri's name comes up again in internal communications, this time listed as "a friend". "The new EU High Representative, Federica Mogherini, who comes from the Socialist party, a party that promoted the motion against Morocco at the Italian Parliament, has now assumed favorable positions in support of Western Sahara separatists. Therefore, it is necessary to act together with the friends of Morocco (high level European officials and members of the S&D group, in particular Gilles Pargneaux and Antonio Panzeri) to raise awareness on this issue", explains the Moroccan cable, produced in Brussels and directed once again to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Rabat.(ANSAmed).

Qatar, Bergamos åklagarmyndighet beslagtar Panzeri-kontona
24 december 2022 - 06:00
240 tusen euro blockerade i namnet på den tidigare dem-ställföreträdaren och hans dotter Silvia. Hans fru vädjar om upphävandet av beslaget

The League: undersökningar av Qatars finansiering för att bygga moskéer i Italien
28 december 2022 - 06:00
I ljuset av Qatargate ber The League nu om information om pengarna som anlände från Qatar till italienska moskéer

Big names bail from NGO caught up in EU Parliament graft scandal
Mogherini, Avramopoulos among former officials bolting from the board of Fight Impunity.

BY SARAH WHEATON AND VINCENT MANANCOURT
DECEMBER 11, 2022 4:14 PM CET

Bold-faced names are jumping ship from the board of an NGO at the center of an alleged corruption scandal in the European Parliament.

Former EU foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini, former French Prime Minister Bernard Cazeneuve, former European Migration Commissioner Dimitris Avramopoulos and former MEP Cecilia Wikström are all listed as members of an “Honorary Board” of Fight Impunity. So is MEP Isabel Santos.

They’ve all quit the board in the wake of allegations against the founder of Fight Impunity, Pier Antonio Panzeri.

Panzeri, an ex-MEP from the Socialists and Democrats group, was arrested on Friday in connection with accusations of bribes and undue influence from Qatar — charges Doha denies. European Parliament assistants who have worked for the organization have also been arrested and had their offices sealed by police.

Starting an NGO in Brussels is relatively easy. Gaining credibility is much harder. When connections are currency, it helps to show who you know.

Panzeri, a former chairman of the Parliament’s human rights subcommittee, knew some powerful people — and he apparently leveraged them to create the impression of an exclusive club.

He knew Mogherini, for example, through his membership in the Parliament’s Committee on Foreign Affairs. Then Panzeri, who left Parliament in 2019, tapped her to join the board of Fight Impunity, according to an aide at the College of Europe, where Mogherini is now rector. The aide noted that she was invited to join the board along with Avramopoulos and Emma Bonino, a respected elder of the Italian left and former foreign minister.

Mogherini agreed to give opening remarks in March at a presentation that students organized with the NGO, but otherwise Mogherini has had no involvement with the organization, the aide said. Mogherini left the board as of Saturday, the aide added.

Avramopoulos said that he, Cazeneuve and Wikström also bolted from the board as soon as they heard about the allegations.

The honorary board had “no executive or managerial role,” Avramopoulos said in an email Sunday. He also noted that he had been invited to join “along with other personalities.”

Avramopoulos said he received permission from the European Commission to take up the position, and received a declared honorarium between February 2021 and February 2022. After that, the honorarium stopped “as I had zero involvement with Fight Impunity,” Avramopoulos said.

Both Avramopoulos and the Mogherini aide said the subject of Qatar never came up in the context of Fight Impunity.

Isabel Santos, a sitting S&D MEP from Portugal, said Sunday that she had already written to Fight Impunity asking to be removed from the board.

“I am shocked and surprised by the latest news involving the President of the Association,” she said in an email, referring to Panzeri.

Bonino’s membership on the Fight Impunity board isn’t likely to be her biggest headache. A former MEP and decorated human rights activist, she is the founder of No Peace Without Justice.

According to Italian newswire Ansa, the director general of that NGO, Niccolò Figà-Talamanca has also been detained in the corruption probe. Focused on international criminal justice, human rights and promoting democracy in the Middle East and North Africa, the organization is officially based in Rome and Brussels, and has the same Brussels address as Fight Impunity, at 41 Rue Ducale.

Neither Bonino nor Figà-Talamanca responded to messages sent through No Peace Without Justice on Saturday.