Skip to main content
Work with the NEU
A crime story at the heart of the European Parliament
Politicians and trade union leaders have been apprehended for their alleged bribe-taking and influence-peddling on behalf of Qatar — but the corruption around the 2022 World Cup has been clear from the start, explains NICK WRIGHT
Greek MEP Eva Kaili

AN anti-corruption investigation by Belgian police has scooped up a vice-president of the European Parliament, Greek MEP Eva Kaili; her partner Francesco Giorgi who is an adviser in the parliament and a figure in the Fight Impunity NGO; Kaili’s father Alexandros and a former MEP, Pier Antonio Panzeri.

In addition to a stash of €600,000 in cash, mobile phones and computers were also seized.

Since then another figure caught up in the sweep, Niccolo Figa-Talamanca, the secretary general of the NGO No Peace Without Justice — which shares prestigious offices with Fight Impunity — has been arrested, questioned, fitted with an electronic tag and released from custody.

The 95th Anniversary Appeal
Support the Morning Star
You have reached the free limit.
Subscribe to continue reading.
Similar stories
IN YOUTH WE TRUST: Supporters of the
Features / 26 March 2026
26 March 2026

Italians reject controversial judiciary reforms in a referendum that boosts the left, reports NICK WRIGHT

RIGHT ANGER, WRONG ANSWER: Faversham’s small anti-migrant demo assembles, Sunday October 5 2025
Features / 9 October 2025
9 October 2025

Once again, our broad-based coalition outnumbered the anti-migrant protest in Faversham, but tackling the sentiment behind this wave of anger requires explaining the real reasons pushing millions into leaving their homelands, argues NICK WRIGHT

Guillaume Périgois
Politics / 14 August 2025
14 August 2025

Starmer sabotaged Labour with his second referendum campaign, mobilising a liberal backlash that sincerely felt progressive ideals were at stake — but the EU was then and is now an entity Britain should have nothing to do with, explains NICK WRIGHT

Junior doctors on the picket line outside St Thomas' Hospital, London, during their continuing dispute over pay. Picture date: Thursday June 27, 2024
Workers' Rights / 18 July 2025
18 July 2025

It is only trade union power at work that will materially improve the lot of working people as a class but without sector-wide collective bargaining and a right to take sympathetic strike action, we are hamstrung in the fight to tilt back the balance of power, argues ADRIAN WEIR