The Brussels home of a Belgian socialist, MEP Maria Arena, and properties connected to her family were the subject of multiple police raids Wednesday afternoon as authorities seized laptops and documents potentially linking her to the cash-for-influence Qatargate scandal.
While so far not charged, Arena is the fourth sitting MEP to be embroiled in the fast-moving corruption scandal with accusations that she abused her position as chair of Parliament’s human rights subcommittee in exchange for lenient treatment of authoritarian regimes such as Qatar.
In January, Arena resigned from her position on the human rights committee for failing to declare a junket to Qatar. She had previously been named in a search warrant alleging she acted as an intermediary for the plot’s ringleader, former Italian MEP Pier Antonio Panzeri.
Belgian authorities confirmed to The European Conservative that “several places directly or indirectly linked to her [Arena] or her family” were raided Wednesday as part of the Qatargate investigation. They provided no further details.
President of the European Parliament Roberta Metsola was present throughout the raid as per Belgian law, amidst growing calls from investigators to remove Arena’s parliamentary immunity to enable prosecution.
A spokesperson for Metsola’s office told Politico that while everyone had the presumption of innocence, the European Parliament would do everything in its power to comply with a criminal investigation.
Arena served as Belgian Minister for Social Integration before becoming a MEP in 2014. Despite resigning from her position on the human rights committee, she has continued her parliamentary work as normal. In contrast, one of the Belgian investigators involved in Qatargate was forced to resign in June, due to a conflict of interest involving a family member—his son—who was found to be a partner in a medicinal cannabis company with Arena’s son.
One of the chief suspects in the Qatargate scandal, Greek MEP Eva Kaili, suggested that Arena had a special immunity deal with authorities to prevent her prosecution during an interview with the Italian press last month.
Since breaking late last year, the Qatargate scandal has transfixed EU lawmakers and exposed what appears to be a covert network of influence operations by foreign actors, as EU institutions struggle to implement structural reforms and the creation of a new ethics body.
Arena has not commented on the raids, but the increasing possibility that she will be charged as part of Qatargate is likely to heap embarrassment on her socialist S&D group that has been most impacted by the revelations.
