EU parliament elects replacement for graft-accused VP Kaili

The European Parliament on Wednesday elected a socialist from Luxembourg to replace Greek MEP Eva Kaili as its vice president, after she was arrested and stripped of the role over a bribery scandal.

In a secret ballot, legislators chose Marc Angel, 59, to take Kaili’s post, despite opposition from some to picking another member of her left-wing Socialist and Democrats political family.

Kaili has been detained in Belgium since December after being arrested in a major police operation into suspected bribery by foreign countries that has rocked the EU’s parliament.

She is one of four suspects being held in the probe into alleged kickbacks from Qatar and Morocco following raids last month that turned up 1.5 million euros in cash.

Kaili was removed from her position as one of the parliament’s 14 vice presidents, but remains an MEP.

The allegations of influence peddling have sparked anti-corruption reforms in parliament and unease in other EU institutions that public credibility has been shaken.

Qatar has denied any wrongdoing and Morocco has accused the media of making unjustified “attacks”.

Angel, a member of Luxembourg’s Socialist Workers’ party, is a former member of parliament in his homeland who became a European deputy in 2019.

The Belgian corruption probe took a dramatic turn Tuesday after one of Kaili’s co-accused, ex-MEP Pier Antonio Panzeri, agreed to turn state’s witness in return for a lighter sentence.

Key figure Panzeri has agreed with prosecutors to lay out how the graft scheme worked, including details of countries that paid bribes and people he paid off.

Two other European Parliament members are also in the sights of the investigators, with Belgian authorities requesting their immunity be lifted.