She called Qatar a leader in labor rights while thousands had died
Em dezembro de 2022, as autoridades belgas e italianas detiveram Eva Kaili, vice-presidente do Parlamento Europeu, numa operação que revelou como o dinheiro de um Estado estrangeiro pode infiltrar-se nas câmaras onde se moldam os destinos coletivos. A investigação sugere que o Qatar terá pago figuras políticas e líderes de organizações de direitos humanos para que falassem em seu nome — precisamente enquanto milhares de trabalhadores migrantes morriam nas obras dos estádios do Mundial. É um momento que obriga a Europa a confrontar a distância entre os valores que proclama e as práticas que tolera nas suas próprias instituições.
- Uma vice-presidente do Parlamento Europeu foi detida com uma mala de dinheiro em sua posse, numa das maiores operações anticorrupção alguma vez dirigidas contra as instituições da UE.
- O escândalo expõe uma rede de lobistas, funcionários parlamentares e líderes de ONGs alegadamente pagos pelo Qatar para influenciar decisões europeias — incluindo organizações que se apresentavam como defensoras dos direitos humanos.
- A ironia é cortante: Fight Impunity e No Peace Without Justice, entidades criadas para combater a impunidade, estão agora no centro de uma investigação por corrupção, forçando demissões em cadeia dos seus conselhos de administração.
- Kaili foi despojada de todas as funções parlamentares, suspensa pelo seu partido e pelo grupo socialista, enquanto juristas debatem se a sua imunidade parlamentar se aplica a alguém apanhado em flagrante delito.
- O caso lança uma sombra sobre o Mundial do Qatar e sobre os 6.500 trabalhadores migrantes mortos nas obras — mortes que Kaili minimizou publicamente dias antes de ser detida.
Em dezembro de 2022, autoridades belgas e italianas realizaram uma série de buscas e detenções que abalaram o Parlamento Europeu. Eva Kaili, vice-presidente da instituição e antiga apresentadora de televisão grega, foi detida a par de outras seis pessoas, suspeita de ter recebido avultadas somas do Qatar para influenciar a posição europeia em relação ao país anfitrião do Mundial.
Kaili tinha 44 anos e uma trajetória ascendente: entrou para o Parlamento Europeu em 2014 e tornara-se vice-presidente em janeiro de 2022, com uma pasta dedicada ao Médio Oriente. Nesse papel, transformou-se na defensora mais entusiasta do Qatar em Bruxelas. A 21 de novembro, dias antes da sua detenção, discursou no hemiciclo elogiando os padrões laborais do país e apresentando-o como um modelo de reforma no mundo árabe — enquanto o resto da instituição condenava as condições em que morreram cerca de 6.500 trabalhadores migrantes nas obras dos estádios.
A investigação aponta para um esquema em que o Qatar terá financiado políticos e operacionais para fazer lobby nas instituições europeias. Entre os detidos estavam Francesco Giorgi, companheiro de Kaili e funcionário do grupo socialista; Pier Antonio Panzeri, presidente da ONG Fight Impunity, cujas mulher e filha foram detidas em Itália; e Niccolò Figà-Talamanca, diretor de No Peace Without Justice — organização que partilhava morada com a Fight Impunity. A ironia não escapou a ninguém: entidades criadas para combater a impunidade estavam agora no centro de um caso de corrupção. Membros dos seus conselhos, incluindo o ex-primeiro-ministro francês Bernard Cazeneuve, demitiram-se de imediato.
Quatro dos detidos, incluindo Kaili, foram formalmente acusados e ficaram em prisão preventiva. A presidente do Parlamento, Roberta Metsola, retirou-lhe todas as funções. O grupo socialista e o seu próprio partido, o PASOK, suspenderam-na. Para a Transparency International, era o caso mais grave de corrupção parlamentar europeia em muitos anos — e uma advertência sobre o preço que as instituições pagam quando fecham os olhos à influência que as rodeia.
On a Friday in early December, Belgian and Italian authorities moved against the European Parliament with a series of raids and arrests that would expose one of Brussels' most brazen corruption schemes in years. Eva Kaili, a vice-president of the institution, was detained along with six others on suspicion of taking money from Qatar—substantial sums, investigators believed—to reshape how European officials spoke about and voted on the Gulf nation's interests.
Kaili was a 44-year-old Greek politician who had once been a television presenter, a glamorous face on Greek screens before entering parliament in 2007 and moving to the European stage in 2014. By January of this year, she had risen to one of the Parliament's 14 vice-presidencies. She held a portfolio that made her a representative to the Middle East, and in that role she had become Qatar's most vocal defender in Brussels. While the rest of the institution condemned the country's labor practices and human rights record—particularly its treatment of migrant workers building World Cup stadiums, where roughly 6,500 had died according to reporting by The Guardian—Kaili spoke of Qatar as a pioneer of human rights reform, a nation transformed by the power of sports diplomacy.
On November 21st, she took the Parliament floor to deliver a speech that shocked many colleagues. She praised Qatar's labor standards, called the country a model for the Arab world, and suggested that European companies were the ones resisting the reforms Qatar wanted to implement. Days later, as the World Cup in Doha drew to a close, police arrested her. They found what one Belgian justice source described as a bag of cash in her possession.
The investigation centered on an alleged scheme in which Qatar paid political figures and operatives to lobby European institutions on its behalf. Six people were taken into custody. Besides Kaili, there was her partner Francesco Giorgi, a staffer for the Socialist group in Parliament and founder of an NGO called Fight Impunity, which promoted accountability in international justice. Pier Antonio Panzeri, president of Fight Impunity and also a Socialist, was arrested at his home; his wife and daughter were detained by Italian police later that day. A warrant cited by Politico accused him of intervening politically with Parliament members on behalf of Qatar and Morocco. Niccolò Figà-Talamanca, director of another human rights organization called No Peace Without Justice, was arrested that night. His NGO shared an address with Fight Impunity despite being officially registered in New York and Rome. The irony was immediate and cutting: organizations ostensibly devoted to human rights and fighting impunity were now at the center of a corruption investigation. Board members of No Peace Without Justice, including former French Prime Minister Bernard Cazeneuve and former EU Migration Commissioner Dimitris Avramopoulos, resigned in protest. A fourth detainee was Luca Visentini, who had just been named secretary-general of the International Trade Union Confederation in November.
By Sunday, four of the detained—including Kaili—were formally charged and remanded in custody. The speed and scale of the operation caught the EU establishment off guard. Transparency International's director told France24 this was the most egregious case of alleged corruption the Parliament had witnessed in many years.
Kaili's fall was swift. Roberta Metsola, the Parliament's president, stripped her of all functions, including her Middle East portfolio. The Socialist group suspended her as a member. In Greece, her own party, PASOK, suspended her before the week was out. Many lawmakers called for her parliamentary immunity to be revoked so she could face trial. A Belgian justice source told France Press that immunity might not apply anyway, since she had been arrested in flagrante delicto—caught in the act.
What had begun as a defense of Qatar's World Cup hosting had become the defining scandal of her career, and a reckoning for an institution that had allowed such influence to take root.
Citas Notables
Qatar is proof of how sports diplomacy can achieve historic transformation of a country with reforms that inspire the Arab world. I myself say Qatar is a leader in labor rights.— Eva Kaili, speaking in the European Parliament on November 21st
This is the most flagrant case of alleged corruption that the European Parliament has seen in many years.— Director of Transparency International, to France24
La Conversación del Hearth Otra perspectiva de la historia
Why did she do it? What would make a sitting vice-president of the European Parliament risk everything for Qatar?
That's the question everyone's asking. The money was substantial enough that she apparently carried it in a bag. But it wasn't just greed—it was also ideology, maybe. She genuinely seemed to believe Qatar was reforming. Or she convinced herself of it.
But the World Cup construction killed thousands of workers. That wasn't hidden.
No, it wasn't. The Guardian had reported the numbers. The whole world knew. And yet she stood up and called Qatar a leader in labor rights. That's the part that stings—not just that she took money, but that she said those things publicly, on the Parliament floor, while knowing what was actually happening.
Did anyone suspect her before the arrests?
Not publicly. She was well-positioned, respected enough. She had the right portfolio, the right connections. That's what made the raids so shocking—they came out of nowhere. Belgian and Italian police had been watching, building the case quietly.
What about the NGOs? Fight Impunity, No Peace Without Justice—those names are almost cruel now.
Exactly. Organizations built on the premise of accountability and human rights, allegedly funneling money from a regime that violated both. Board members resigned immediately. They had no choice. The cognitive dissonance was too much.
What happens to her now?
Trial, almost certainly. Her immunity might not even protect her—she was arrested in the act. But the real damage is already done. Her career is finished. The question now is how deep this goes, whether other officials were involved.