Qatargate floods the EU

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Dec 12, 2022 View in browser   By Ryan Heath Presented by Follow Ryan on Twitter | Send tips and insights to rheath@politico.com Happening Today In a regular edition of Global Insider you'll find the "kleptowatch" section at the bottom of the newsletter — today, Belgian prosecutors are forcing the issue to the top of your inbox. A Belgian judge on Sunday charged four people over allegedly receiving at least $630,000 in cash stashed in suitcases and other gifts from a Gulf state to influence decisions in the European Parliament. The judge's move is the latest twist in a wild 72 hours that has many wondering if this is the biggest scandal (or at least the broadest big scandal) in EU history. POLITICO answers your questions here , and we dive into more juicy details below.   A message from Qualcomm:   HAPPENING TOMORROW The biggest gathering of African leaders outside of Africa is happening at the Washington Convention Center, a summit of around 50 heads of government and President Joe Biden.  The president will also speak at a U.S.-Africa Business Forum . POLITICO previously reported that Biden wasn't scheduled to hold any one-to-one meetings with leaders, but the White House has now confirmed "a small group multilateral meeting with leaders." There will also be a summit dinner White House East Room. Full summit schedule . The goal: Narrow a trust and investment gap that is opening up between Washington and African capitals, as China rolls out its trillion-dollar plus Belt and Road infrastructure program, and the EU its $300 billion Global Gateway program — in the context of Africa still struggling to access Covid vaccine supply nearly two years after the shots were widely available in the U.S. Biden is backing the African Union to have a permanent seat at the G-20 . Africa rising: Morocco has another big item on its calendar this week — playing …… of the three-day summit — which kicks off Tuesday morning — Morocco, the first-ever World Cup semi-finalists from Africa, will play France, Wednesday, 2:00 p.m. QATAR CORRUPTION SCANDAL — A REALLY BAD DAY FOR EUROPE'S SOCIALISTS The raids and later arrests are such a scandal because of the high-level figures caught up in them. European Parliament Vice President Eva Kaili, a Greek socialist now stripped of her party membership and suspended from her vice presidential duties, is the highest profile person charged. The European Parliament is a cacophony of different parties; but only one has been caught up in this scandal so far, the European Socialists and Democrats, which looked poised to unseat the center-right European People's Party as the parliament's largest group in a 2024 election. It's too early to tell if there are electoral implications to this scandal, but as lawmakers gather in their Strasbourg home today (the institution shuttles between Brussels and Strasbourg) they're gearing up for an epic session of finger-pointing, Brussels Playbook reports . Top Parliament officials have been cooperating for some time with Belgian police in the secretive investigation led by prosecutor Michel Claise — including by giving them the green light to seal off several Parliament offices and gather evidence, according to EU Parliament officials. Police found around $630,000 in suitcases during raids of 16 homes in Belgium on Friday, and the source, reported by POLITICO and others, is Qatar, though prosecutors have not formally named the gulf state and the Qatari government denies wrongdoing. "The State of Qatar categorically rejects any attempts to associate it with accusations of misconduct," said a Qatari official in a statement emailed to my colleague Sarah Wheaton Sunday morning. Doha has been dogged by years of corruption allegations around his efforts to win the right to host the World Cup. Kaili still in custody : The MEP was previously known as the Parliament's biggest champion of blockchain technology and cryptocurrency, but in recent months has been making a splash describing Qatar as a " frontrunner in labor rights ". Kaili's partner, Francesco Giorgi, was also charged. Others charged include former MEP Pier Antonio Panzeri, involved in an NGO called Fight Impunity, whose high-profile board members included former French Prime Minister Bernard Cazeneuve, former foreign affairs minister for Italy Emma Bonino, a former European Migration Commissioner Dimitris Avramopoulos, former EU foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini and former MEP Cecilia Wikström. All of them resigned from the board during the weekend HOW BIG A DEAL IS THIS? Watchdog groups agree on the superlatives. Transparency International chief Michiel van Hulten said it could be "the most egregious case" of alleged corruption Parliament has seen. Alberto Alemanno, a law professor at HEC Paris, called it the "most shocking integrity scandal in the history of the EU." German Green MEP Daniel Freund, co-chair of the Parliament's internal anti-corruption body called it one of the "most serious corruption scandals in Brussels in recent decades." POLICY CONSEQUENCES FROM QATARGATE: A vote planned for this week on visa liberalization for Qatari citizens — which would see citizens from a suite of Gulf State countries be allowed visa-free access to the EU, if approved — is likely to be punted back to committee. Parliament's Foreign Affairs Committee planned to head to Saudi Arabia and Qatar in the coming weeks. Now the latter part has been canceled — meaning a top rival of Doha gets all the attention, right when it was supposed to be basking in a post-World Cup afterglow. Challenge for the international trade union movement: Among those arrested on Friday , though he has not been charged, was Luca Visentini, the newly elected head of the International Confederation of Free Trade Unions. Sharan Burrow, the previous ICFTU leader whose term ended this month, had invested heavily in engaging with the Qataris to push for improvements in the country's labor laws. Visentini has been a leading figure for European trade unions for years.   POLITICO AT CES 2023 : We are bringing a special edition of our Digital Future Daily newsletter to Las Vegas to cover CES 2023. The newsletter will take you inside the largest and most influential technology event on the planet, featuring every major and emerging industry in the technology ecosystem gathered in one place. The newsletter runs from Jan. 5-7 and will focus on the public policy related aspects of the event. Sign up today to receive exclusive coverage of CES 2023.     GLOBAL RISKS AND TRENDS CHINA — COVID SURGE AMID RULES CONFUSION: After Chinese authorities relaxed some Covid rules last week (in some cases infected people are now allowed to quarantine at home, for example), infections are spreading, hospitals are struggling to cope and a growing number of Chinese people are accepting that Covid can no longer be contained — an inevitable inflection point reached at earlier stages by every other country. UKRAINE — AMERICAN PUBLIC CONSENSUS ON AID IS WEAKENING: New polling data from the Chicago Council on Global Affairs data shows 47 percent of Americans now say Washington should urge Kyiv to settle for peace as soon as possible in an effort to reduce costs borne by U.S. households. But an equal number still want to support Ukraine as long as it takes. Solid majorities continue to support sending arms (65 percent) and economic aid (66 percent), accepting Ukrainian refugees (73 percent) and sanctioning Russia (75 percent). UKRAINE FALLOUT — BY THE NUMBERS: After peaking at 95 percent capacity mid-November, Europe's natural gas storage levels are starting to drop — now down to 89 percent — as colder weather arrives. Global Insider spent last week in Brussels sleeping in an apartment without heating: not because of a lack of gas or government restrictions, but an equally 2022 problem, supply chain problems left our building's broken boiler unfixable for the time being. It wasn't pleasant. Daytime was manageable in warm clothing. The freezing nights were more challenging, even with the aid of double-glazed windows and a small electric space heater. Was your host much better off than a street sleeper? Yes. But it's no way to live in an advanced democracy and economy, and it doesn't take a genius to see the political unrest that would occur if heating was unavailable on a wide scale in Europe in February. CANADA — TOUGH JOB: Trudeau's lone Chinese Canadian minister, international trade minister Mary Ng, has a tough job ahead of her , reports Zi-Ann Lum from Berlin. CUBA — LIBRE "Over the last year, nearly 250,000 Cubans, more than 2 percent of the island's 11 million population, have migrated to the United States, most of them arriving at the southern border by land, according to U.S. government data ." IRAN — SAUDIS SAY ALL BETS OFF IF TEHRAN GETS NUKES: Saudi Arabia's foreign minister said on Sunday that Iran's Gulf Arab neighbors would act to shore up their security if Tehran were to obtain nuclear weapons, Reuters reported . GLOBETROTTERS PASSED George "Johnny" Johnson, the last World War II "Dambuster," has died at 101 . He was one of 133 British officers who dropped specially designed bouncing bombs on Germany's industrial heartland in 1943, breaching two major dams and causing chaos for the Nazi war machine as war plants, bridges, railroads and and whole towns were washed away. Around 1,600 civilians including slave laborers died in the attacks. Prominent U.S. soccer journalist Grant Wahl, 49, collapsed and died while covering the World Cup in Qatar on Friday. MOVES Rasmussen Global, the consultancy set up by former NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen, has hired former Ukrainian MP Olena Sotnyk to launch a Ukraine advisory service focused on helping international companies make investment decisions around reconstruction efforts.   LISTEN TO POLITICO'S ENERGY PODCAST: Check out our daily five-minute brief on the latest energy and environmental politics and policy news. Don't miss out on the must-know stories, candid insights, and analysis from POLITICO's energy team. Listen today .     BRAIN FOOD MOVIE: Triangle of Sadness: A genius morality tale about role reversal . SHORT READ: King Elon Musk , a political theory from Ross Douthat. Thanks to editor Heidi Vogt and producer Hannah Farrow. SUBSCRIBE to the POLITICO newsletter family: D.C. Playbook | Brussels Playbook | London Playbook | Paris Playbook | Ottawa Playbook | EU Confidential | D.C. Influence | EU Influence | London Influence | Digital Bridge | China Direct | Berlin Bulletin | Living Cities   Follow us on Twitter Ryan Heath @PoliticoRyan   Follow us

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