London Daily

Focus on the big picture.
Wednesday, Oct 01, 2025

Qatar scores own goal over EU visas

Qatar scores own goal over EU visas

MEPs were set to allow visa-free travel for Qatari and Kuwati nationals — until a corruption scandal took center stage.

The EU’s plan to allow visa-free short-stay travel for Qatari and Kuwaiti nationals has been struck by a corruption scandal engulfing the European Parliament.

MEPs in Strasbourg were expected to vote this week to allow nationals of both countries to travel without a visa to the EU for 90 days, providing they have a biometric passport.

But that was put on hold after Belgian prosecutors charged Parliament Vice President Eva Kaili and three others with corruption as part of a major investigation into an alleged illicit influence campaign by Qatar.

The file will now go back to the lead justice and home affairs (LIBE) committee, European Parliament President Roberta Metsola confirmed in Monday’s plenary meeting.

MEPs in that committee had initially been supportive of the measure. The lead parliamentarian on the file, the Green group's Erik Marquardt, said in an October meeting he had felt comfortable proposing the waiver, in spite of reservations around human rights in both countries.

“We didn’t propose a visa waiver for these states because they’re the best countries in the world in terms of human rights and because they stick to all labor rights,” he told MEPs at the time.

“We did it because we believe that these visa waivers would provide advantages on both sides, and would also mean that perhaps together we could try and improve the situation,” he added.

The file was sent to the LIBE committee following the European Commission's announcement in April that it intended to add Qatar and Kuwait to its visa-free regime, saying the move would “contribute to strengthening relations with Gulf countries.”

Commission Vice President Margaritis Schinas said at the time the measure was down to “the success of the governments of Qatar and Kuwait in achieving far-reaching reforms,” and added that it reflected “the increasing intensity and depth of EU relations with both countries.”

The EU currently has a visa-free regime in place with 61 countries. 


Qatar on Kaili's mind


Despite concerns about human rights abuses in Qatar, MEPs in the LIBE Committee backed the plan this month in a meeting that saw Kaili turn up to vote in favor of the proposal — even though she’s not a member of that committee. Belgian MEP Marc Tarabella, whose home was raided in connection with the probe, also sat in the vote, according to Marquardt. Nor is he a member of the LIBE Committee. MEPs are allowed to attend committee meetings and even vote on behalf of absent committee members.

Belgian MEP Marc Tarabella, whose home was raided in connection with the probe, also sat in the vote


Marquardt said he had been approached by Kaili on the issue of Qatar, adding that it was “very obvious” she was “much in favor of giving a visa waiver to Qatar,” but “was not so interested in the other countries.”

The visa proposal also applies to Kuwaiti nationals. But in an October meeting, some MEPs in the LIBE Committee questioned why citizens of other nations — specifically Oman and Ecuador — hadn’t initially been put forward by the Commission to receive the same benefits.

Marquardt told POLITICO that over the past few months he has been lobbied extensively by Qatari representatives, and was offered a trip to the World Cup — which he turned down. He called on Monday for the file to be frozen in response to the scandal, despite having drawn up the report that parliamentarians were going to vote on.

Another MEP, Abir Al-Sahlani, wrote on Twitter on Monday that she was “ambushed” by Kaili because of her role as the shadow rapporteur on the file for the centrist Renew group. 

She said that Kaili booked a meeting with her to talk about the situation of children in Iran, but added: “For 25 minutes, Eva Kaili talked only about Qatar and why that country should have visa liberalization. I got really annoyed. The whole meeting was just an ambush, to try to help the Qatari regime, it was never about the situation of Iranian children during the protests.”

Kaili did not respond to a request for comment.

S&D's shadow rapporteur, Pietro Bartolo, said he met with Kaili in her role as vice president in charge of relations with the Gulf countries. "We simply had a general discussion on the overall situation in the region," he told POLITICO.

Two other shadow rapporteurs on the file — the Left Group’s Clare Daly, and ECR’s Jadwiga Wiśniewska — said Kaili had not been in touch with them.


Measure on hold


This isn’t the first time the decision over visa-free travel has been paused. LIBE postponed a vote in November following a mass execution in Kuwait, after which MEPs moved to include a clause about the death penalty in the report.

Parliamentarians are split on what should happen to the measure now.

Renew's shadow rapporteur Al-Sahlani told POLITICO: “While the investigation is still ongoing, this file should remain frozen. The extent of this scandal will most likely take time to fully unfold, and as long as we cannot be sure that this legislation is handled with the integrity and care that we normally expect from the European Parliament, no vote on it should take place.”

One parliamentarian said that Eva Kaili was definitely “interested in Qatar having a good outcome in the file”


She added that the Renew group voted against granting visa liberalization to Qatar, “and that certainly remains our position.”

Speaking anonymously, another MEP in the LIBE Committee is more open to movement on the issue. “If we can find a solution tailored to Qatar, I don’t see why the file wouldn’t be brought back to the plenary and could be finalized,” they said.

That parliamentarian said that while Kaili was definitely “interested in Qatar having a good outcome in the file,” there was “very little controversy” over the country because the committee was acting on the proposal of the Commission.

Newsletter

Related Articles

0:00
0:00
Close
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
FBI Removes Agents Who Kneeled at 2020 Protest, Citing Breach of Professional Conduct
Trump Alleges ‘Triple Sabotage’ at United Nations After Escalator and Teleprompter Failures
Shock in France: 5 Years in Prison for Former President Nicolas Sarkozy
Tokyo’s Jimbōchō Named World’s Coolest Neighbourhood for 2025
European Officials Fear Trump May Shift Blame for Ukraine War onto EU
BNP Paribas Abandons Ban on 'Controversial Weapons' Financing Amid Europe’s Defence Push
Typhoon Ragasa Leaves Trail of Destruction Across East Asia Before Making Landfall in China
The Personality Rights Challenge in India’s AI Era
Big Banks Rebuild in Hong Kong as Deal Volume Surges
Italy Considers Freezing Retirement Age at 67 to Avert Scheduled Hike
Italian City to Impose Tax on Visiting Dogs Starting in 2026
Arnault Denounces Proposed Wealth Tax as Threat to French Economy
Study Finds No Safe Level of Alcohol for Dementia Risk
Denmark Investigates Drone Incursion, Does Not Rule Out Russian Involvement
Lilly CEO Warns UK Is ‘Worst Country in Europe’ for Drug Prices, Pulls Back Investment
Nigel Farage Emerges as Central Force in British Politics with Reform UK Surge
Disney Reinstates ‘Jimmy Kimmel Live!’ after Six-Day Suspension over Charlie Kirk Comments
U.S. Prosecutors Move to Break Up Google’s Advertising Monopoly
Nvidia Pledges Up to $100 Billion Investment in OpenAI to Power Massive AI Data Center Build-Out
U.S. Signals ‘Large and Forceful’ Support for Argentina Amid Market Turmoil
Nvidia and Abu Dhabi’s TII Launch First AI-&-Robotics Lab in the Middle East
Vietnam Faces Up to $25 Billion Export Loss as U.S. Tariffs Bite
Europe Signals Stronger Support for Taiwan at Major Taipei Defence Show
Indonesia Court Upholds Military Law Amid Concerns Over Expanded Civilian Role
Larry Ellison, Michael Dell and Rupert Murdoch Join Trump-Backed Bid to Take Over TikTok
Trump and Musk Reunite Publicly for First Time Since Fallout at Kirk Memorial
Vietnam Closes 86 Million Untouched Bank Accounts Over Biometric ID Rules
×