Socialists drop MEP detained for corruption
Eva Kaili, a socialist member and vice president of the European Parliament, has been expelled from her Greek party, PASOK, and suspended from the Parliament’s Socialists and Democrats group after her arrest Friday on suspicion of corruption.
PASOK demanded Saturday that Kaili give up her seat in the European Parliament, but, up until late Saturday she had refused to do so; Belgian newspaper L’Echo quoted an anonymous Greek lawmaker saying that “she knows that would mean the lifting of her parliamentary immunity.”
L’Echo reported that significant sums of money were discovered during police raids at several locations and that Kaili’s father was caught with a suitcase full of cash.
Belgian authorities were set to make an announcement late Sunday, past this newspaper’s print deadline.
Kaili, 44, had attracted negative publicity a few weeks ago by making a statement in defense of Qatar’s much-criticized employment rights record, going as far as to describe the host country of the World Cup as a “pioneer in workers’ rights.”
Kaili was known for having a troubled relationship with the other Greek socialist MEP, Nikos Androulakis, who also happens to have been PASOK’s leader since December 2021.
Androulakis’ aides in the party said Friday that, given the gravity of the accusations, the party had to act quickly. But they had expected a response from the Socialists and Democrats parliamentary group on Monday; it came earlier than that.
The group announced late Friday that it “has taken the decision to suspend MEP Eva Kaili’s membership of the S&D Group with immediate effect, in response to the ongoing investigations.”
