The President of the European Parliament, Roberta Metsola, announced on Monday that the European Parliament’s position defending the exemption of visas for tourists from Qatar will return to the competent committee for review, so that negotiations will not begin as planned with the EU-27 to agree on this measure, after a vice-president of the institution, the Greek Socialist Eva Kaili, was charged for allegedly receiving bribes from this Gulf country.
«I had planned to announce the request for the start of negotiations for visa waiver with Qatar and Kuwait, but in light of the information this report must return to the parliamentary committee,» explained Metsola at the beginning of the plenary session of the European Parliament in Strasbourg (France), after a few days that the parliamentary president herself has considered «the longest» of her life.
The measure has been agreed with all the political groups, said Metsola and submitted to the vote of the plenary, which has supported the decision to return the report to the Committee on Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs (LIBE) for study.
The rapporteur of the report that gave the green light to defend the exemption of short-stay visas for travelers from Qatar, the German Green MEP Erik Marquardt, has warned that the European Parliament «cannot allow a state that is attacking our Union to obtain visa liberalization».
«We have to make sure that this process has not been manipulated and also refuse to start negotiations,» said the MEP before endorsing the return of the report to the parliamentary committee.
The initiative to exempt Qatar and Kuwait from visa requirements for trips of a maximum of 90 days stems from a European Commission proposal presented last April, in which the Community services defended the «economic advantages» for the European Union of relaxing travel requirements for Qatari and Kuwaiti citizens and that this gesture «will contribute to strengthening relations» with these countries.
In addition, Metsola has reported that the Conference of Presidents, which brings together the heads of all political groups in the EP, will meet early Tuesday to initiate the procedure to remove as vice president to the Greek Socialist Eva Kaili, who has been charged by the Belgian authorities for alleged corruption.
The final decision rests with the plenary of the European Parliament, which approves the distribution of positions in the institution, so the Conference of Presidents must decide whether to transfer the request to be submitted to a vote in plenary.
Already over the weekend, the President of the European Parliament decided to strip her of her functions and representative duties as Vice-President, which in her case included relations with the Middle East, for example, but the power to remove her from office rests with the plenary.
