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Metsola: Rebuilding trust, leading the Union forward to sideline Qatar scandal. The President of the European Parliament, Roberta Metsola, is ready to turn the institution upside down so that a corruption scandal such as the one currently shaking up Brussels will never happen again

Metsola has announced changes to promote transparency and prevent the bribery of MEPs by countries or lobbies.

"Trust that has taken years to build, but only moments to destroy will need to be rebuilt. And this work starts now," said the President of the European Parliament, Roberta Metsola.

"We need to right the wrongs and we need to send a powerful message to those external actors who try to undermine us, that we will not yield. That we will stand by our values, the rule of law, justice and due process."

Greek MEP Eva Kaili, who also serves as vice-president of the European Parliament, her partner Franceso Giorgi, and two others are accused of corruption, money laundering and criminal operations, all linked to possible Qatari and Moroccan schemes to illegally influence the Parliament.

The former Italian MEP Antonio Panzeri is also implicated in the alleged plot.

An investigation has also been launched into the NGO "No Peace Without Justice".

Its head, Nicollo-Figa Talamanca, has been released with an electronic bracelet.

Belgian police seized more than 1.5 million euros in connection with the recent arrests.

In exchange for this money, those involved are suspected of lobbying the European Parliament in favour of countries thought to include Qatar or Morocco.

Eva Kaili is due to appear in court in Brussels next Thursday.

Subscribe here: https://bit.ly/eudebates The European Parliament voted Thursday to suspend all work on legislation linked to Qatar after allegations of corruption involving a parliament vice president rocked the assembly.

Prosecutors suspect the vice president, Eva Kaili, and three other people took bribes from World Cup host Qatar in its alleged bid to influence European Union policymaking.

At a news conference following the vote, Parliament President Roberta Metsola told reporters the criminal proceedings from a probe by Belgian police were damaging for democracy, for Europe, “and for everything that we stand for ... trust that has taken years to build.”

She announced the planned implementation of a reform package, to be ready by the first of the year, that would include “the strengthening of the parliament's whistleblower protection systems, a ban on all unofficial friendship groups, a review of the policing of our code of conduct rules and a complete and in-depth look at how we interact with third countries." A ban on Qatari representatives' access to the parliament's premises is also to be considered.

The European Parliament, one of the European Union’s legislative bodies, said it would suspend all work on legislative files relating to Qatar, notably on visa liberalization, a European Union-Qatar aviation agreement and planned visits, until the allegations have been confirmed or dismissed.

EU lawmakers backed the resolution 541-2 and said they were "appalled" by the alleged corruption, one of the union’s biggest scandals to date.

Belgian investigators searched 19 homes and the offices of the European Parliament, looking into allegations that Qatar paid large bribes to influence the parliament's policy debates.

A source close to the investigation told the Reuters news agency that $1.6 million was seized in the raids, and that people were arrested on corruption charges, including parliament Vice President Eva Kaili of Greece.

Authorities in Athens on Monday froze Kaili’s assets, and her political party in Greece also suspended the former television news anchor. Both Kaili and Qatar officials have denied any wrongdoing.

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We just had a very long exchange of views with the prime ministers and the president of the institutions. Quite a lot of it was dedicated to the criminal proceedings involving the Parliament, and a lot of support was expressed by the Prime ministers for the way that the Parliament has handled this matter so far.

I'd go a little bit into detail. First of all, of course, these criminal proceedings involving the Parliament are damaging, they are damaging for democracy, for Europe and for everything that we stand for, thrust that has taken years to build, but only moments to destroy will need to be rebuilt. And this work starts now.