“Hungarian Minister of Foreign Affairs Péter Szijjártó has sharply criticized the European Parliament, saying, among other things, that the institution lacks any credibility in light of its recent corruption scandals. During a Sunday morning interview with Hungary’s Kossuth Rádió on February 13th, Szijjártó did not mince words when he said: ‘The credibility of the European Parliament is practically zero,’ and added that ‘the latest corruption issues have clearly shown that we are speaking about one of the world’s most corrupt organizations,’ the news portal Vadhajtāsok reports. The foreign minister’s statements come as the Qatargate scandal continues to embroil the European Parliament. In December, the scandal broke when Greek Vice President of the European Parliament Eva Kaili, her partner Francesco Giorgi, the Italian former MEP Pier Antonio Panzeri, and a lobbyist were arrested by Belgian police for allegedly taking over €1.5 million in bribes–discovered during searches in Belgium and abroad. The largest amount, about €600,000 in cash, was found in the Brussels home of Panzeri. But the foreign minister’s choice words for the European Parliament did not end with his lambasting the EU Parliament’s corruption problem. After arguing that ‘very few of the decisions, statements, and resolutions of the European Parliament have in fact helped Europe,’ he went even further, saying that decisions taken by the EU legislature were ‘mostly harmful to Europe.’”
“EU Parliament,” The European Conservative, Feb. 15, 2023
