London Daily

Focus on the big picture.
Thursday, Oct 09, 2025

EU corruption scandal ‘a socialist problem,’ conservatives’ boss claims

EU corruption scandal ‘a socialist problem,’ conservatives’ boss claims

Thanasis Bakolas will help shape the EU conservatives’ messaging campaign for the 2024 election.

A party boss for Europe’s conservatives is blaming socialists for the EU’s worst corruption scandal in decades — an unusually blunt political attack that signals a potential tactic for Europe’s 2024 election.

“This is a socialist problem,” Thanasis Bakolas, secretary-general for the EU-wide, center-right European People’s Party (EPP), told POLITICO in an interview, repeatedly admonishing the socialists for their response to a cash-for-influence probe that has ensnared several prominent center-left figures.

The unvarnished appraisal went further than other EPP leaders, who have so far avoided using the corruption probe to score political points. And it showed the EPP may be shifting to a more hard-charging, partisan campaign mode ahead of next year’s European election, given Bakolas’ key role in crafting the party’s messaging.

The Socialist & Democrats (S&D) group, Bakolas claimed, has failed to take responsibility for the so-called Qatargate scandal, which saw the arrest of four S&D-linked people, including one of the group’s vice presidents in Parliament.

“Who’s raising their hands and saying: ‘It’s my responsibility what happened?’ Who’s saying: ‘I gotta look into my house?'” Bakolas said, speaking from his office in Brussels.

Thus far, it’s been the EPP, he argued, pointing to a plan from Parliament President (and EPP member) Roberta Metsola, who proposed 14 reforms aimed at increasing accountability and transparency in Parliament.

“Roberta Metsola did this for the entire house. I didn’t hear the same thing from the socialists,” he said.

The S&D, of course, says such admonishments are unfounded.

The group has announced an internal review to be led by Silvina Bacigalupo — the president of the anti-corruption watchdog Transparency International Spain — and former British MEP Richard Corbett. It has also proposed its own list of 15 reforms.

An S&D spokesperson said some of those steps were already being implemented while others required Parliament’s approval.

“We are committed that more ambitious reform is needed. In fact we are the only group walking the talk,” said the spokesperson.

But Bakolas blamed the S&D for allowing the stain of scandal to seep into the entire Parliament.

The public had been left with the impression “that everybody in the European Parliament is a bad apple” — something the S&D could have avoided by owning the scandal, he said.

Thanasis Bakolas accuses the S&D of allowing the stain of the Qatargate scandal to seep into the entire EU Parliament

“The socialists would have gained respect out of this,” he added. “And they would have enhanced the parliamentary system, they would have empowered their fellow colleagues in the Parliament.”

Such open political sparring is rare in Brussels, where the most brutal games are usually played in private. But the Qatargate scandal has added a new charge to preparations for next year’s European election. It has also raised the thorny question for the S&D’s opponents of how to turn the corruption to their political advantage without it blowing up in their hands.

The EPP’s prior attempt to politicize the scandal fell flat when it issued a tweet slamming the center left’s “hypocrisy.” The missive was followed just hours later by an announcement from the European Public Prosecutor’s Office that it was investigating Maria Spyraki, a Greek MEP and member of the EPP — although it turned out to be an unrelated case.

Other senior EPP members have cautioned against singling out their rivals.

“The allegations are not about left or right or north or south,” Metsola said in the days following the revelations in December, urging MEPs “to resist the temptation to exploit this moment for political gain.”

Parliament Vice President Rainer Wieland, a six-term EPP MEP from Germany known for his influence on the body’s light-touch approach to ethics enforcement, also warned that politicians face lost credibility across the board if reactions are based on “which political color” is implicated.

“I do not believe in general that the EPP people are the better human beings,” Wieland said in an interview this week. “It can happen everywhere.”

The S&D spokesperson said politicizing the scandal would further damage citizens’ trust in Parliament.

“Too much is at stake that justifies internal fighting now,” the spokesperson said. “Instead of criticizing in general terms, the EPP should rather be concrete and say what kind of action we did not take. And rather focus on what action they should take. Are they in for full transparency?”

Bakolas said his party preferred to campaign for the elections on a positive message. But he said center-left political parties across the EU “should be worried. Because we’re going through a period where people want good leadership, they want strong leaders that can govern well and deliver for their people.”

Bakolas is aware of the risk that the rot may turn out to go beyond the S&D.

“I run a tight ship in here,” he said of the EPP’s party headquarters. “But also, you know what? I’m only as good as my people. And with [EPP President] Manfred Weber in the European Parliament, he’s only as good as the MEPs are.”

“But you’ve got to show leadership,” Bakolas said, adding that, under Weber, “I can tell you this … what happened at the socialists would not have happened.”

Newsletter

Related Articles

0:00
0:00
Close
France: Less Than a Month After His Appointment, the New French Prime Minister Resigns
Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán stated that Hungary will not adopt the euro because the European Union is falling apart.
Sarah Mullally Becomes First Woman Appointed Archbishop of Canterbury
Mayor in western Germany in intensive care after stabbing
Australian government pays Deloitte nearly half a million dollars for a report built on fabricated quotes, fake citations, and AI-generated nonsense.
US Prosecutors Gained Legal Approval to Hack Telegram Servers
Macron Faces Intensifying Pressure to Resign or Trigger New Elections Amid France’s Political Turmoil
Standard Chartered Names Roberto Hoornweg as Sole Head of Corporate & Investment Banking
UK Asylum Housing Firm Faces Backlash Over £187 Million Profits and Poor Living Conditions
UK Police Crack Major Gang in Smuggling of up to 40,000 Stolen Phones to China
BYD’s UK Sales Soar Nearly Nine-Fold, Making Britain Its Biggest Market Outside China
Trump Proposes Farm Bailout from Tariff Revenues Amid Backlash from Other Industries
FIFA Accuses Malaysia of Forging Citizenship Documents, Suspends Seven Footballers
Latvia to Bar Tourist and Occasional Buses to Russia and Belarus Until 2026
A Dollar Coin Featuring Trump’s Portrait Expected to Be Issued Next Year
Australia Orders X to Block Murder Videos, Citing Online Safety and Public Exposure
Three Scientists Awarded Nobel Prize in Medicine for Discovery of Immune Self-Tolerance Mechanism
OpenAI and AMD Forge Landmark AI-Chip Alliance with Equity Option
Munich Airport Reopens After Second Drone Shutdown
France Names New Government Amid Political Crisis
Trump Stands Firm in Shutdown Showdown and Declares War on Drug Cartels — Turning Crisis into Opportunity
Surge of U.S. Billionaires Transforms London’s Peninsula Apartments into Ultra-Luxury Stronghold
Pro Europe and Anti-War Babiš Poised to Return to Power After Czech Parliamentary Vote
Jeff Bezos Calls AI Surge a ‘Good’ Bubble, Urges Focus on Lasting Innovation
Japan’s Ruling Party Chooses Sanae Takaichi, Clearing Path to First Female Prime Minister
Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs Sentenced to Fifty Months in Prison Following Prostitution Conviction
Taylor Swift’s ‘Showgirl’ Launch Extends Billion-Dollar Empire
Trump Administration Launches “TrumpRx” Plan to Enable Direct Drug Sales at Deep Discounts
Trump Announces Intention to Impose 100 Percent Tariff on Foreign-Made Films
Altman Says GPT-5 Already Outpaces Him, Warns AI Could Automate 40% of Work
Singapore and Hong Kong Vie to Dominate Asia’s Rising Gold Trade
Trump Organization Teams with Saudi Developer on $1 Billion Trump Plaza in Jeddah
Manhattan Sees Surge in Office-to-Housing Conversions, Highest Since 2008
Switzerland and U.S. Issue Joint Assurance Against Currency Manipulation
Electronic Arts to Be Taken Private in Historic $55 Billion Buyout
Thomas Jacob Sanford Named as Suspect in Deadly Michigan Church Shooting and Arson
Russian Research Vessel 'Yantar' Tracked Mapping Europe’s Subsea Cables, Raising Security Alarms
New York Man Arrested After On-Air Confession to 2017 Parents’ Murders
U.S. Defense Chief Orders Sudden Summit of Hundreds of Generals and Admirals
Global Cruise Industry Posts Dramatic Comeback with 34.6 Million Passengers in 2024
Trump Claims FBI Planted 274 Agents at Capitol Riot, Citing Unverified Reports
India: Internet Suspended in Bareilly Amid Communal Clashes Between Muslims and Hindus
Supreme Court Extends Freeze on Nearly $5 Billion in U.S. Foreign Aid at Trump’s Request
Archaeologists Recover Statues and Temples from 2,000-Year-Old Sunken City off Alexandria
China Deploys 2,000 Workers to Spain to Build Major EV Battery Factory, Raising European Dependence
Speed Takes Over: How Drive-Through Coffee Chains Are Rewriting U.S. Coffee Culture
U.S. Demands Brussels Scrutinize Digital Rules to Prevent Bias Against American Tech
Ringo Starr Champions Enduring Beatles Legacy While Debuting Las Vegas Art Show
Private Equity’s Fundraising Surge Triggers Concern of European Market Shake-Out
Colombian President Petro Vows to Mobilize Volunteers for Gaza and Joins List of Fighters
×