By Victor Kanayo
Despite allegations linking the Gulf monarchy to corruption in the European Parliament, President Emmanuel Macron on Thursday said his decision to visit Qatar was strictly to support France 2022 World Cup team.
Macron was in Qatar on Wednesday night to watch France’s semi-final victory over Morocco before flying to Brussels overnight to attend an EU summit in Brussels.
On the investigations opened in Belgium, in which a vice-president of the European Parliament, Eva Kaili, has been arrested, the French president has advocated “letting justice do its job” and has applauded the measures of “transparency” and “exemplarity”.
Belgian police are investigating allegations that Qatar has been paying bribes to European politicians.
They have arrested an MEP and three associates and charged them with corruption, but Qatar have denied any wrongdoing.
Macron said, “I’m totally comfortable with it. “Four years ago I backed the French team in Russia, and I’m backing them in Qatar.”
Macron plans to return to Qatar on Sunday to watch France play Argentina in the World Cup final.
In the build up to the tournament, Qatar’s labour laws came under scrutiny amid allegations that migrant workers were mistreated and put in danger on building sites.
Now, the state’s international diplomacy is in question, after Belgian police seized 1.5 million euros in cash and made several arrests.
The European Parliament, whose president Roberta Metsola declared the alleged bribes to MEPs as an attack on Europe’s democracy, will vote on a motion Thursday that could bar Qatari lobbyists from its premises.
