Hungarian Conservative

The investigation into the Brussels corruption scandal, which has been ongoing for more than a year with left-wing MEPs at its centre, could be jeopardized, as revealed by a recently released audio recording.

Ursula von der Leyen’s annual ‘State of the Union’ address was rife with notable omissions, which raises concerns about transparency, and highlights the need for the Brussels leadership to demonstrate more substantively that they are worthy of voter trust ahead of 2024 European elections.

The only potential uncertainty factor in the automatism of the waiver of immunity is the case of politically motivated procedures, the so-called fumus persecutionis, which, however, may easily arise in the future in the immunity procedures related to the Qatargate scandal as the case becomes more complicated.

The immunity of two more MEPs has been suspended as Antonio Panzeri, one of the main suspects in the Qatargate scandal, agreed to cooperate with the investigation as part of a plea deal to reduce his sentence.

In response to the Qatargate scandal in the European Parliament, EU Ombudsman Emily O’Reilly urged the EP to strengthen its ethics committee.