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MEP Eva Kaili starts legal challenge over the lifting of her immunity

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MEP Eva Kaili starts legal challenge over the lifting of her immunity

Eva Kaili, the Greek MEP at the heart of a corruption scandal gripping the European Parliament, is taking the Belgian justice system to court alleging the country’s police and secret services violated her parliamentary immunity.

Kaili, who was arrested last December and charged with corruption, launched her case on Tuesday in a Brussels court. She is following in the footsteps of two other MEPs involved in the scandal, Belgium’s Marc Tarabella and Italy’s Andrea Cozzolino, who have launched similar lawsuits.

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The three of them, as well as Kaili’s domestic partner and former parliamentary assistant Francesco Giorgi and three-term socialist Pier Antonio Panzeri, are accused of accepting hundreds of thousands of euros from Qatari and Moroccan officials in exchange for influencing the decision of the European Parliament.

Panzeri has confessed to taking part in a criminal organisation and shared details with prosecutors in exchange for leniency for him and his family. The others, as well as Qatar and Morocco, reject all accusations.

If the courts side with them and rule that their parliamentary immunities were violated the entire corruption case against them, known as Qatargate, could collapse. 

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“All parties involved, including Eva Kaili, have objected to the legality of the criminal proceedings to date,” Kaili’s Greek lawyer, Michalis Dimitrakopoulos, told reporters on Tuesday. 

“The objections are based on two pillars. One is that Eva Kaili’s right to immunity from the Belgian secret services has been violated and that this entails the absolute nullity of the proceedings.”

“The second and most fundamental objection is that the investigator in the case, Michel Claise, had a basic stumbling block to not being an investigator,” he added, citing the ties Claise’s son has to another MEP involved in the scandal.

“This affects the impartiality of the investigator and he should have resigned. If this had happened on Greek territory he would have been an accused,” he said. 

Kaili, who spent four months in jail followed by one month of house arrest under electronic surveillance, was kicked out of the Socialists & Democrats groups and stripped of her Vice-President position at the European Parliament but she returned to plenary in Strasbourg as an unaffiliated MEP in July.

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On Tuesday, she attended a hearing of the European Parliament’s Legal Affairs Committee (JURI) discussing the request of the European Prosecutor (EPPO) to lift her immunity in relation to another case. She is accused of committing fraud in relation to the management of her parliamentary allowance, in particular for the compensation of assistants.

The hearing was confidential and kept behind closed doors. 

Kaili’s lawyer for EU affairs, Spiros Pappas, said this case “does not concern the case of Kaili only, it is a case concerning the functioning of European democracy.”

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“I can say, and it may sound a little bit too much that at this moment, the European democracy, the European Union, is under scrutiny under surveillance, without exaggeration. So I think that the case in general is a good case, not the case that was discussed today exclusively, but I think that both cases are interconnected,” he also said.

The decision of the Legal Affairs Committee is expected by November. However, the one in Belgian Justice is expected to be delayed, even to 2024.

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Asia shares rise, dollar underpinned by elevated bond yields

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Asia shares rise, dollar underpinned by elevated bond yields
Asian stocks edged up on Tuesday, though moves were subdued in a holiday-curtailed week, while the greenback held near a two-year high helped by elevated U.S. Treasury yields as investors prepared for fewer Federal Reserve rate cuts in 2025.
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US military carries out airstrike in Syria, killing 2 ISIS operatives

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US military carries out airstrike in Syria, killing 2 ISIS operatives

The U.S. military conducted an airstrike on Monday in Syria, where they killed a pair of ISIS operatives and destroyed a truckload of weapons, according to U.S. Central Command.

A precision airstrike in the Dayr az Zawr Province, which was formerly controlled by the Syrian regime and Russians, killed two ISIS operatives and wounded another, CENTCOM said.

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The U.S. military conducted an airstrike on Monday in Syria, where they killed a pair of ISIS operatives and destroyed a truckload of weapons. (Chris Graythen/Getty Images)

The operatives were driving a truckload of weapons, which was destroyed, when they were targeted in the strike.

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BIDEN ADMIN LIFTS $10M BOUNTY ON THE HEAD OF LEADER OF ISLAMIST GROUP NOW IN CHARGE OF SYRIA

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CENTCOM forces conducted a precision airstrike in the Dayr az Zawr Province in Syria. (AP Photo)

“This airstrike is part of CENTCOM’s ongoing commitment, along with partners in the region, to disrupt and degrade efforts by terrorists to plan, organize, and conduct attacks against civilians and military personnel from the U.S., our allies, and our partners throughout the region and beyond,” CENTCOM said in a statement.

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Ciolacu's new government sworn in, tasked with bringing stability

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Ciolacu's new government sworn in, tasked with bringing stability

Romania’s new government headed by Prime Minister Marcel Ciolacu of the leftist Social Democratic Party took the oath on Monday. The new pro-Europe government has been tasked with providing stability and maintaining the country’s pro-European trajectory.

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Ciolacu’s new government received 240 votes in favour, seven more than the required 233 votes for motions to pass.

Eight ministries will be under the Social Democratic Party’s (PSD) control, six will be overseen by the National Liberal Party (PNL) while the remaining two cabinet posts will be taken up by the Democratic Alliance of Hungarians in Romania.

Romania’s new cabinet members took the oath on Monday before incumbent President Klaus Iohannis.

Iohannis said he spoke with all the new cabinet members, wishing them success and urged them to work in unity for the people of Romania.

Iohannis also said all the ministers he had spoken with had expressed interest in the continuation of Romania’s pro-European trajectory.

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On 1 December, Ciolacu’s PSD secured approximately 22% of the votes in an election cycle clouded with controversy.

The parliamentary race came sandwiched between the first and second round of the country’s presidential race, which saw the right-wing make considerable gains in Romania’s political landscape.

Far-right Alliance for the Union of Romanians finished in second in the parliamentary race, winning just over 18% of the votes.

Iohannis’ decision to nominate Ciolacu to form a government is widely seen by critics as a tactical push to shut out the far-right.

The country has been thrown into political instability since and Ciolacu understands the task ahead, will be difficult.

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“It will not be an easy mandate for the future government,” Ciolacu said in a statement Monday. “We are aware that we are in the midst of a deep political crisis. It is also a crisis of trust, and this coalition aims to regain the trust of citizens, the trust of the people.”

The parliamentary election came on the heels of a presidential vote in which the far-right outsider Calin Georgescu won the first round, in which Ciolacu came third. Georgescu’s surprise success plunged Romania into turmoil as allegations of electoral violations and Russian interference emerged.

Days before the 8 December presidential runoff, Romania’s Constitutional Court made the unprecedented move to annul the presidential race.

President Iohannis, who announced he would stay in his post until a successor is elected, hopes the new government can end a protracted political crisis in the European Union and NATO country.

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