The European Parliament on Thursday lifted the immunity of two Social Democrat MEPs suspected by Belgian public prosecutors in the corruption scandal.

They are Marc Tarabella from Belgium and Andrea Cozzolino from Italy.

Both protest their innocence.

They were expelled from their parliamentary group for the duration of the investigation and resigned from their parliamentary offices.

Thomas Gutschker

Political correspondent for the European Union, NATO and the Benelux countries based in Brussels.

  • Follow I follow

Tarabella, 59, has been accused by the key figure in the case, former Social Democrat MP Pier Antonio Panzeri, of lobbying for Qatar's interests against the payment of €120,000 to €140,000.

His home was searched by police in December.

Most recently, he was deputy chairman of the delegation for relations with the Gulf States and had defended Qatar against criticism.

Reduced sentence for Panzeri

The report by the Judiciary Committee, which unanimously recommended that both lawmakers' immunities be lifted, outlined for the first time what the 60-year-old Cozzolino is suspected of doing.

Accordingly, he could have been involved in acts of corruption "related to the interference of one or more foreign states in order to influence the debates and decisions of the European Parliament".

In particular, it is said to have been "to prevent the adoption of parliamentary resolutions that could damage the interests of these states in exchange for sums of money".

Cozzolino was a member of the Subcommittee on Human Rights, where he was responsible for negotiating so-called emergency resolutions with which Parliament denounced acute human rights violations.

He also headed the delegation for the Maghreb countries.

According to the current state of investigations, Morocco is also said to have tried to influence parliament by bribery.

Panzeri is cooperating with the Belgian public prosecutor's office as part of a leniency program.

It provides for a reduced sentence, and arrest warrants against his wife and adult daughter in Italy were dropped.

It is not known whether Panzeri has since testified against other MPs.

A lawyer for the former Vice President of Parliament Eva Kaili, a Greek social democrat who was also arrested, recently claimed that Panzeri would incriminate MPs from Italy, France and Germany.