Quote:Brussels hit by Qatar corruption scandal

'A Belgian judge is expected on Sunday to announce formal charges for several people arrested in an alleged
corruption scandal involving World Cup host Qatar and the European parliament. Over the weekend, authorities
seized some €600,000 in cash and detained five people, in what appears to be one of the most significant
corruption cases ever seen in the European parliament.

While Belgian authorities have not named the suspects, European parliament vice-president Eva Kaili has been
stripped of her duties in the parliament and of party membership by the Greek socialist party, PASOK.


Eva Kaili, It's okay when we do it.

“In the light of the ongoing judicial investigations by Belgian authorities, President Metsola has decided to suspend
with immediate effect all powers, duties and tasks that were delegated to Eva Kaili in her capacity as vice-president
of the European parliament,” a spokesman for European parliament president Roberta Metsola said in a statement.

Belgian authorities last week said that they were pursuing an investigation into “organised crime, corruption and
money laundering”.

“For several months, investigators of the Federal Judicial Police have suspected a Gulf country of influencing economic
and political decisions of the European parliament,” the Belgian federal prosecutor’s office said in a statement on Friday.
“This is done by paying large sums of money or offering large gifts to third parties with a significant political and/or
strategic position within the European parliament.” An official familiar with the investigation confirmed that the country
in question is Qatar.

The news was first broken by Le Soir, the Belgian newspaper, which said those arrested also included a former MEP and
a parliamentary assistant. Shortly after the news broke on Friday, Kaili was suspended both from her party Pasok and
the Socialist group in the European parliament. The FT was unable to reach Kaili on her mobile phone.

Kaili, a former TV news presenter, and member of the Greek parliament with the centre left party, Pasok, joined the EU
legislature in 2014 and in November she defended Qatar’s human rights record:
“Qatar is a frontrunner in labour rights, abolishing kafala [its migrant labour sponsorship system] and reducing
minimum wage ... Still, some here are calling to discriminate [against] them. They bully them and they accuse
everyone that talks to them or engages of corruption. But still, they take their gas.”

The parliament was due to vote next week on granting Qatari nationals visa free travel to the bloc. That has been suspended over the weekend in response to the detentions. The Greens/EFA group in parliament said on Saturday
it would have voted against the measure.

Terry Reintke, co-president of the group, said there should be “zero tolerance against corruption and bribery”, adding
that “if the suspicions are confirmed” Kaili should resign as an MEP.

Transparency International, the anti-corruption group, said the EU institutions needed an independent ethics regulator.
“Over many decades, the parliament has allowed a culture of impunity to develop, with a combination of lax financial
rules and controls and a complete lack of independent (or indeed any) ethics oversight,” said its director, former MEP
Michiel van Hulten...'

(12-13-2022, 12:39 AM)ABNARTY Wrote: FIFA and corruption? What?

I don't believe it.

Quote:EU migration meltdown as countries rush to pull out of refugee relocation programme

'EU migration meltdown as countries rush to pull out of refugee relocation programme
Under the EU's Solidarity Pool, member states are obliged to share the burden of accommodating
refugees. European countries are rushing to pull out of the EU's refugee relocation programme.
The continent has seen an upsurge in migrants heading to its borders in recent years, as wars
and economic crises ravage many parts of the world.


The Unwanted Invasion.

Under the EU's Solidarity Pool, member states are obliged to share the burden of accommodating
refugees. Countries must accept a quota of asylum seekers, pay for each person they decline to
take in, or offer another form of assistance. However, Brussels tweaked the rules on Tuesday to
allow countries facing intense migration pressures to opt out of the scheme.

The states eligible to apply for the exemption are Poland, Austria, Bulgaria, Croatia, Czechia and
Estonia. Poland became the first country to officially declare it was pulling out of the Solidarity
Pool on Wednesday.

“We have been saying for months that there is no agreement on any relocation mechanisms,” Minister
of the Interior and Administration Marcin Kierwiński said in announcing the decision. “Poland bears
enormous costs of protecting the borders of the European Union, is under migratory pressure from
Belarus, and has accepted war refugees from Ukraine.”

Warsaw has been lobbying Brussels for months to get recognition of the migration pressures it faces.
A number of states in the former eastern bloc have faced continuing flows of refugees as part of a
"weaponisation of migration" by Russia and Belarus. “Our partners [in the EU] know it very well,
we’re subject to a very big migration pressure and … we must not face any more commitments,”
the Polish government spokesman Adam Szłapka said.

Migration has become a toxic issue in Polish politics, with most political parties opposing the current
refugee quota system. The Czech Republic also submitted its own application for exemption from the
provisions of the migration pact on Wednesday.

New data has shown a decrease in the number of migrants heading to Europe over the past year.
Released on Monday, the European Commission's annual migration assessment showed a drop of
35% in irregular crossings from July 2024 to July 2025...'

(11-13-2025, 08:34 PM)BIAD Wrote: The Brits became aware of 'The Hokey-Cokey syndrome' when an illegal migrant sent back
to France jumped back on a Chinese-made rubber dingy and unlawfully returned to old Blighty.
Now it seems certain countries in the EU are performing a similar act.

(11-14-2025, 03:07 PM)F2d5thCav Wrote: ...

It seems Prof Betz is on the mark regarding coming conflict.  The government has made a hot mess out of British society and now has no idea of how to reverse the situation -- and Betz believes that reversal is not even possible at this point.

Quote:I keep recalling how Europe was immediately after the Wall fell, and can't grasp how swiftly it all went to Hell.

(11-14-2025, 06:48 PM)Ninurta Wrote: ...Maybe it was out of fear and paranoia, maybe it was out of pure malice... and maybe,just maybe, it was a part of the plan all along to maintain the former "boogey men" in their accustomed status so that "the west" would maintain their perceived enemy to keep the proles in line and scared.

(11-14-2025, 03:07 PM)F2d5thCav Wrote:

(11-13-2025, 08:34 PM)BIAD Wrote: The Brits became aware of 'The Hokey-Cokey syndrome' when an illegal migrant sent back
to France jumped back on a Chinese-made rubber dingy and unlawfully returned to old Blighty.
Now it seems certain countries in the EU are performing a similar act.

Saw commentary in, I believe, the "European Conservative" the other day that was blunt.  It stated for the UK to do what is required to reestablish some degree of law and order, it would take a government operating under martial law that forcibly deported any non-Brit with gang connections or ties to militant Islam.  And the the author went further, stating that if any of those designated to be deported resisted, then extraordinary measures would be used to resolve the situation.

Harsh commentary.  But what I find notable about the commentary is that it is being made at all.  Such blunt commentary was not made a few years ago.  It seems Prof Betz is on the mark regarding coming conflict.  The government has made a hot mess out of British society and now has no idea of how to reverse the situation -- and Betz believes that reversal is not even possible at this point.

Surveying the EU at large, I can only say that the UK is hardly the only country on course for a, uh, "kinetic" destiny.

I keep recalling how Europe was immediately after the Wall fell, and can't grasp how swiftly it all went to Hell.

Quote:“We are led by the least among us – the least intelligent, the least noble, the least visionary. We are led by the least among us and we do not fight back against the dehumanizing values that are handed down as control icons.”

— Terence McKenna

(11-15-2025, 03:50 PM)F2d5thCav Wrote: Kenzo, I am reliably assured that -AI- will fix all that for us!