Nigel Farage has said he feels the Qatar corruption scandal "very personally" after being put "through hell" during his time in Brussels.
Leaders are meeting today to discuss how to prop up their countries' industries, which have been whacked by soaring energy prices since the outbreak of war in Ukraine and now face the threat of subsidy-fueled U.S. competition.
But the scandal, which led to Belgian prosecutors charging Eva Kaili, a Greek member, and three others for accepting bribes from World Cup host Qatar in a bid to influence EU policymaking, is overshadowing the summit.
"There are too many informal grouping that are potentially more amenable to influence," EU Parliament President Roberta Metsola said. "We will clamp down on everything... I will make sure that everything is in place to make sure the parliament is not for sale.”
Qatar and Kaili have denied any wrongdoing.
The European Parliament voted to remove the Greek MEP of her vice-president role after she was accused of accepting bribes from Qatar in one of the biggest corruption scandals seen in Brussels.
Kaili has denied any wrongdoing, but European lawmakers acted rapidly to isolate her, worrying that the Belgian investigation will badly dent the assembly's efforts to present itself as a sound moral compass in a troubled world.
Leaders are meeting today to discuss how to prop up their countries' industries
European Union 2022
625 MEPs voted to deprive Kaili of her VP role, with only one voting against and two abstaining.
European Parliament President Roberta Metsola said: "There will be no sweeping under the carpet. Our internal investigation will look at what has happened and how our systems can be made more watertight,"
Kaili, who is in Belgian police detention, was one of 14 vice presidents in the parliament.
Belgian prosecutors charged her and three Italians at the weekend with taking part in a criminal organisation, money laundering and corruption.
They are believed to have pocketed money from Qatar, current host of the soccer World Cup. The energy-rich Gulf state has denied any wrongdoing.
Police have raided numerous buildings in Brussels, including parliament offices and 19 homes, discovering around 1.5 million euros ($1.58 million), some of it stashed in a suitcase in a hotel room, a source close to the investigation said.
Nigel Farage said he felt the news of the scandal "very personally".
GB News
Reacting to the news, GB News’ Nigel Farage said: “I feel this very personally, because for years, myself and my colleagues were put through hell by Olaf, the fraud office of the European Parliament.
“I went through five big inquiries. Even since we've left the European Union, I had another legal case, a very expensive legal bill to prove my innocence after I was accused of misusing public funds, they never, ever found that I had.
“But funny, isn't it? Every time there was an investigation, they told the Times newspaper, before they told me. And yet all of this has been going on at the heart of Brussels for years.”