{"id":105269,"date":"2023-06-19T17:05:34","date_gmt":"2023-06-19T15:05:34","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.reunion68.se\/?p=105269"},"modified":"2023-06-19T07:13:30","modified_gmt":"2023-06-19T05:13:30","slug":"27-05-87","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.reunion68.se\/?p=105269","title":{"rendered":"Belgium suffers blowback over Qatargate, minister says"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/a>Belgium suffers blowback over Qatargate, minister says<\/a><\/strong><\/span><\/h5>\n

BARBARA MOENS AND PIETER HAECK<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

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Some countries take it \u2018personally\u2019 when prosecutors accuse them of corruption, Belgian interior minister tells POLITICO.<\/strong><\/span>
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Belgium\u2019s Interior Minister Annelies Verlinden | Laurie Dieffembacq\/BELGA MAG\/AFP via Getty Images<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

For the past six months, Brussels has been at the center of the biggest European Union corruption scandal for almost a quarter of a century.<\/span><\/p>\n

But the criminal investigation into the so-called\u00a0Qatargate<\/a>\u00a0claims, which have severely damaged the EU\u2019s reputation for integrity, has not been cost-free for the small European nation in charge of the inquiry.<\/span><\/p>\n

Belgium\u2019s Interior Minister Annelies Verlinden told POLITICO\u00a0that the investigation, which has uncovered allegations that foreign governments bribed EU lawmakers, has had consequences for the country\u2019s diplomatic relations with the states allegedly involved.<\/span><\/p>\n

As interior minister, Verlinden is in charge of the Belgian police, whose unit for combatting corruption played a role in building the case that\u00a0Qatar and Morocco allegedly bought influence in the European Parliament<\/a>. The police also helped carry out the series of raids in December that delivered sensational finds, including a suitcase filled with cash.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWe have noticed afterwards, in several files, the targeted countries themselves also feel implicated and took this personally, but that is no reason not to take action,\u201d Verlinden said.<\/span><\/p>\n

One example where tensions have emerged is the return of migrants to their home countries, a sensitive issue for Belgium as it struggles with a\u00a0migration crisis<\/a>\u00a0and seeks to speed up the processing of failed asylum claims.<\/span><\/p>\n

Morocco, which was one of the foreign countries implicated in the alleged corruption investigation,\u00a0is<\/a>\u00a0among the top 10 states to which Belgium sends migrants back if their immigration claims are not successful. But that process has become more difficult recently, Verlinden suggested, without explicitly naming Morocco.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWe know that in the\u00a0laissez-passers<\/em>\u00a0[travel documents] that we need to send people back, that involvement of the state can play a role,\u201d Verlinden said. \u201cThat\u2019s intertwined. I don\u2019t know exactly what involvement there is either, obviously, but we have to be aware that in these countries many things are intertwined.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Verlinden refrained from giving other examples of the repercussions of Qatargate, adding that only the country\u2019s foreign affairs minister has a full picture of the diplomatic mood, but said that the countries involved are closely following the prosecutors\u2019 investigation.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWe would probably do the same if it was the other way around,\u201d she said. \u201cThat has an influence on our bilateral relations. I can\u2019t say on which files or how it has had an impact. But it has an impact. These actions have consequences, and we realize that.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Corruption<\/strong><\/h5>\n

In recent months, both Belgian Prime Minister Alexander De Croo and Belgian Justice Minister Vincent Van Quickenborne have\u00a0come<\/a> out strongly to defend the investigation and Belgium\u2019s responsibility as host country of the European institutions.<\/span><\/p>\n

Prime Minister Alexander De Croo defended the investigation and Belgium\u2019s responsibility as host country of the European institutions | Thierry Roge\/AFP via Getty Images<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

Verlinden echoed that defense, saying Belgium\u2019s host status implies a responsibility in a wide range of issues, whether it\u2019s tackling corruption, guaranteeing the security of European or other leaders when they come to Brussels, or facilitating public demonstrations.\u00a0\u201cOur rule of law can only stand if we can be sure that everyone is exercising their public mandate in the public interest.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Belgium was already planning to reinforce its fight against corruption, even before Qatargate shook the EU\u2019s Brussels institutions. \u201cWe should not underestimate that if we don\u2019t try to contain that \u2026 that\u2019s undermining our democracy,\u201d the Christian Democrat politician\u00a0said.<\/span><\/p>\n

Verlinden did not want to get drawn into criticism of the Belgian investigation, referring those questions to the justice department. At the start of the inquiry, Belgium\u2019s justice minister\u00a0said<\/a>\u00a0the judiciary worked together \u201cvery well\u201d with its Italian counterparts on the case.<\/span><\/p>\n

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Belgium suffers blowback over Qatargate, minister says BARBARA MOENS AND PIETER HAECK Some countries take it \u2018personally\u2019 when prosecutors accuse them of corruption, Belgian interior minister tells POLITICO. . Belgium\u2019s Interior Minister Annelies Verlinden | Laurie Dieffembacq\/BELGA MAG\/AFP via Getty Images For the past six months, Brussels has been at the center of the biggest […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[6],"tags":[26,24],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.reunion68.se\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/105269"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.reunion68.se\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.reunion68.se\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.reunion68.se\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.reunion68.se\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=105269"}],"version-history":[{"count":11,"href":"https:\/\/www.reunion68.se\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/105269\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":105285,"href":"https:\/\/www.reunion68.se\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/105269\/revisions\/105285"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.reunion68.se\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=105269"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.reunion68.se\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=105269"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.reunion68.se\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=105269"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}