EU Parliament Corruption Scandal May Be Damaging to EU Credibility: Council Chief

MOSCOW (Sputnik) - A recent corruption scandal around the European Parliament may be damaging for the credibility of the European Union at a time when the bloc is facing a number of serious challenges and crises, European Council President Charles Michel said on Wednesday.

"[The scandal is] making it even more difficult for us to focus on the economic and energy crises that impact the lives of European citizens right now," Michel told Politico.

The top EU official said that he was very concerned about developments around current and former members of the EU parliament and corruption charges brought against them.

Michel also noted that the EU would need to take strong action against corruption so as to avoid similar situations in the future.

"We first need to learn lessons from this and come up with a package of measures to avoid such things — to prevent corruption in the future," he added.

On December 9, Belgian authorities carried out several arrests and searches in Brussels in connection with an investigation into allegations of corruption in the European Parliament associated with the holding of the World Cup in Qatar and illicit lobbying in favor of the Gulf monarchy and Morocco. In particular, European Parliament Vice President Eva Kaili and her partner were detained and their residence was searched. Later, Kaili was relieved of her office and expelled from her political party in Greece. Belgian law enforcement officers reportedly seized over 1.5 million euros ($1.6 million) during the searches.