Eva Kaili
Eva Kaili | |
---|---|
![]() Eva Kaili in 2016 | |
5th Vice President of the European Parliament | |
In office 18 January 2022 – 13 December 2022 Suspended: 9 December 2022 - 13 December 2022 Serving with See list | |
President | Roberta Metsola |
Member of the European Parliament for Greece | |
Assumed office 28 May 2014 | |
Member of the Hellenic Parliament | |
In office 18 September 2007 – 9 May 2012 | |
Constituency | Thessaloniki A 37.98% (1st) |
Personal details | |
Born | Greek: Εύα Καϊλή 26 October 1978 Thessaloniki, Greece |
Political party | PASOK (1992–2022) |
Other political affiliations | Progressive Alliance of Socialists and Democrats (2014–2022) |
Spouse | Francesco Giorgi |
Children | 1 |
Alma mater | Aristotle University of Thessaloniki |
Profession | Newscaster, politician[1] |
Website | www |
Criminal information | |
Criminal status | Detained[2] |
Criminal charge | Corruption and bribery |
Eva Kaili (Greek: Εύα Καϊλή; born 26 October 1978) is a Greek politician who has been serving as a member of the European Parliament (MEP) since 2014. She served as one of fourteen vice presidents of the European Parliament from January 2022 until she was arrested and charged with corruption in December 2022.
Kaili is a former Member of the Hellenic Parliament and former television news presenter for Greek television channel MEGA Channel.[3][4]
Early life and education
Kaili studied architecture and civil engineering at the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki.[5] Kaili continued her studies at the University of Piraeus where she obtained a Master of Arts degree in International and European affairs in 2008.[5] Since 2014 Kaili has been pursuing a PhD in International Economic Policy at the University of Piraeus but, as of 2022, is yet to complete her studies.[5]
Career
Before her political career, Kaili was a newscaster at Mega Channel from 2004 until 2007.[5]
In 1992, Kaili joined the PASOK Youth. In 2001, she was President of the School of Architecture Students' Association and by 2002, she was already the youngest member to be elected to the Thessaloniki City Council.[6]
Member of the Hellenic Parliament
In the 2004 national elections, Kaili was the youngest candidate standing.[citation needed] In the 2007 national elections, she was elected as a member of the Hellenic Parliament for the first district of Thessaloniki. At the time, she was the youngest Member of Parliament with the PASOK party.[7] She retained her seat in the 2009 national elections until 2012.
During her term in Parliament, Kaili served as a member of the following Parliamentary Committees: Standing Committee on Cultural and Educational Affairs, Standing Committee on National Defense and Foreign Affairs, and Special Permanent Committee of Greeks Abroad. She was also a member of the Greek delegation to the Parliamentary Assembly of the Organization of the Black Sea Economic Cooperation (BSEC), the NATO Parliamentary Assembly, and the Parliamentary Assembly of the Union for the Mediterranean.[1]
Ahead of a crucial vote of confidence for Prime Minister, George Papandreou in November 2011, Kaili made headlines when she announced that she would refuse to support the government in the vote; this would have left Papandreou with the support of just 151 PASOK deputies out of 300.[8] She later backtracked and Papandreou won the vote of confidence with all 155 lawmakers of PASOK expressing their support for his beleaguered government.[9]
Member of the European Parliament
Eva Kaili has been Member of the European Parliament since 2014 and was a member of the Progressive Alliance of Socialists and Democrats (S&D) group until her expulsion in 2022. Kaili now sits as an independent. She is Vice President for Innovation Strategy, ICT, Technology, Foresight, Businesses, ESG and CSR, UN, WTO, OECD and the Middle East. She was the first woman[10] to Chair of the European Parliament's Science and Technology Options Assessment body (STOA) 2017–2022.[5] She was also Chair of the Centre for Artificial Intelligence (C4AI), and Chair of the Delegation for relations with the NATO Parliamentary Assembly (DNAT) 2014–2019. She has been serving on the Committee on Industry, Research and Energy (ITRE), the Committee on Economic and Monetary Affairs (ECON), and the Committee on Employment and Social Affairs (EMPL). She is an alternate member on the Committee on Budgets (BUDG) and on Delegation for relations with the Arabian Peninsula (DARP)[11] and was also involved in the Commission investigating the spyware Pegasus (PEGA).[10]
In addition to her committee assignments, Kaili is a member of the European Parliament Intergroup on Cancer,[12] the European Parliament Intergroup on Disability, the Delegation to the EU-Russia Parliamentary Cooperation Committee (D-RU) and the Delegation for Relations with the United States of America (D-US).[13]
She was the recipient of a 2018 MEP Award for New Technologies.[14]
Kaili became one of fourteen vice presidents of the European Parliament on 18 January 2022 after being elected on the first round by 454 votes. She was suspended from her vice-presidential duties on 10 December.[15] In a vote of the full chamber, Kaili was officially removed as vice president by a supermajority.[16]
Between 2019 and 2022, Kaili was the head of the Hellenic S&D delegation until her expulsion from the party.
On 13 December 2022, the European Parliament voted to remove Kaili from her position as one of their vice presidents, with 625 votes in favor of removal, one against, and two abstentions.[17][18][19]
Corruption charges and arrest
On 9 December 2022, Kaili was arrested by Belgian Federal Police following an investigation into organized crime, corruption and money laundering tied to lobbying efforts in support of Qatar.[20] A suitcase of cash was found with her father upon his arrest, and bags of cash were found at her home.[21] The same day she was suspended from both the Socialists and Democratic Group with which she sits in the European Parliament and her national party PASOK.[22] As part of the investigation, Belgian Police raided 16 homes and detained at least four others including parliamentary assistant Francesco Giorgi (Kaili's life partner[23]), former MEP Antonio Panzeri (for whom Giorgi had worked at parliament, and with whom he had founded the human rights NGO "Fight Impunity"),[24] and Kaili's father who was arrested while on a train with a large amount of cash, having been warned by an accomplice.[25][26] During the raids over €600,000 in cash was recovered by investigators.[27][28][29]
On 12 December 2022, the Greek Anti-Money Laundering Authority announced that it had frozen all assets of Kaili and her close family members. This included all bank accounts, safes, companies and other financial assets. Of particular interest to the authorities, according to the head of the Anti-Money Laundering Authority, is a newly established real estate company in the Athens district of Kolonaki.[30][31]
The timing of the arrests coincided with the 2022 FIFA World Cup being hosted in Qatar. At the time, there was significant criticism of the hosts in the West, but during a speech at the European Parliament, Kaili praised the country's human rights record and criticised accusations of corruption made against Qatar. [32][33]
Controversies inside PASOK
Even before her arrest, Kaili was a controversial figure inside the Panhellenic Socialist Movement (PASOK), since she had regularly supported political positions closer to those of Greek centre-right parties. Following her arrest, PASOK president Nikos Androulakis described her as "a Trojan horse of New Democracy", the main centre-right party in Greece, and announced that she would not be a candidate for PASOK again.[34][better source needed] For example, she had repeatedly defended the administration of centre-right Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis.[35]
Personal life
Kaili and partner Francesco Giorgi, a parliamentary assistant, have a daughter born in 2021.[36]
References
- ^ a b "Curriculum vitae Eva Kaili". 25 April 2022. Retrieved 10 December 2022.
- ^ Detained on December 9 by the Belgian Police after an order issued by the Federal Attorney.
- ^ Photograph of Eva Kaili[permanent dead link], Greece.
- ^ "Εύα Ευδοξία Καϊλή". www.evakaili.gr (in Greek). Retrieved 10 December 2022.
- ^ a b c d e "Curriculum vitae | Eva KAILI | MEPs | European Parliament". Retrieved 12 December 2022.
- ^ Stamouli, Nektaria (13 December 2022). "The long rise and abrupt fall of Greek MEP Eva Kaili". Politico.
- ^ Weisenthal, Joe. "One-On-One With Eva Kaili, The Most Popular Greek Politician In The World". Business Insider. Retrieved 12 December 2022.
- ^ Dina Kyriakidou and Lefteris Papadimas (3 November 2011), Greek prime minister faces knife-edge survival vote Archived 18 June 2020 at the Wayback Machine Reuters.
- ^ Rachel Donadio (4 November 2011), Greek Leader Survives Vote, Bolstering Deal on Europe Debt Archived 20 October 2020 at the Wayback Machine The New York Times.
- ^ a b "Eva Kaili". RegHorizon. Retrieved 12 December 2022.
- ^ "Home | Eva KAILI | MEPs | European Parliament". Retrieved 12 December 2022.
- ^ Intergroup Archived 3 October 2020 at the Wayback Machine European Cancer Patient Coalition (ECPC).
- ^ Members of the Disability Intergroup - S&D Archived 12 December 2022 at the Wayback Machine European Disability Forum.
- ^ "Eva Kaili wins MEP of the year award in Brussels". Retrieved 17 August 2021.
- ^ "Greek MEP stripped of vice president powers over graft probe". Deutsche Welle. Retrieved 11 December 2022.
- ^ "Qatar corruption scandal: MEP Eva Kaili removed as Vice-President of EU Parliament". Brussels Times. 13 December 2022. Retrieved 13 December 2022.
- ^ EU Parliament removes VP status from Eva Kaili Retrieved 2022-12-13
- ^ Mutanklagad Kaili bortröstad som vice talman i EU-parlamentet Retrieved 2022-12-13
- ^ "Minutes of proceedings" (PDF). European Parliament. 13 December 2022. Retrieved 14 December 2022.
- ^ "Four charged in connection with Qatar corruption scandal at Brussels". euronews. 9 December 2022. Retrieved 15 December 2022.
- ^ "Cash found in MEP Kaili's Brussels home: reports". Kathimerini. 10 December 2022.
- ^ "Eva Kaili: Senior EU lawmaker arrested over alleged bribery by Gulf state". BBC News. 9 December 2022. Retrieved 12 December 2022.
- ^ Kokkinidis, Tasos (15 December 2022). "Qatargate: Kaili's Partner Reportedly Confesses He Was Bribed". GreekReporter.com. Retrieved 16 December 2022.
- ^ "European Parliament jolted by investigation into alleged corruption benefiting Qatar". Le Monde. 11 December 2022. Retrieved 13 December 2022.
- ^ "Belgium makes EU parliament arrests in Qatar corruption probe". France24. 9 December 2022.
- ^ Tidey, Alice; Brezar, Aleksandar (9 December 2022). "European Parliament Vice President Eva Kaili brought in for questioning in Brussels corruption probe". Euronews.
- ^ Coulart, Louis; Matriche, Joël; Clerix, Kristof (9 December 2022). "Soupçons de corruption par le Qatar: la vice-présidente du Parlement européen Eva Kaili interpellée". Le Soir.
- ^ Wheaton, Sarah; Camut, Nicolas (9 December 2022). "Belgian police raid homes over Qatar lobbying at EU Parliament". Politico Europe.
- ^ Balboni, Julien (9 December 2022). "Des sacs d'argent liquide trouvés au domicile de la vice-présidente du Parlement européen". L'Echo.
- ^ "Corruption au Parlement européen: Athènes gèle tous les avoirs de la vice-présidente Eva Kaili écrouée". Le Soir. 12 December 2022. Retrieved 12 December 2022.
- ^ "Qatar Gate Greece FReezes assets eva kaili". Greek Reporter. 12 December 2022. Retrieved 12 December 2022.
- ^ "Situation of human rights in the context of the FIFA world cup in Qatar (debate)". European Parliament. 21 November 2022. Retrieved 15 December 2022.
- ^ Knight, Sam (3 December 2022). "At Qatar's World Cup, Where Politics and Pleasure Collide". The New Yorker.
- ^ "Androulakis: Eva Kaili Functioned As A "Trojan Horse" For New Democracy". Greek City Times. 10 December 2022.
- ^ "Qui est Eva Kaili, l'eurodéputée grecque soupçonnée de corruption en lien avec le Qatar ?". Europe 1 (in French). Retrieved 15 December 2022.
- ^ Foschini, Giuliano (15 December 2022). "Qatargate, Giorgi confessa davanti ai giudici: "Ma ora liberate la mia compagna"". la Repubblica. Retrieved 15 December 2022.
External links
Media related to Eva Kaili at Wikimedia Commons
- Official website (in Greek)
- Personal profile of Eva Kaili in the European Parliament's database of members
- Member profile on the website of the S&D parliamentary group
- 1978 births
- Living people
- Politicians from Thessaloniki
- Mass media people from Thessaloniki
- Greek television presenters
- Greek television journalists
- Greek women journalists
- PASOK MEPs
- Greek MPs 2007–2009
- Greek MPs 2009–2012
- MEPs for Greece 2014–2019
- MEPs for Greece 2019–2024
- MPs of Thessaloniki
- Women television journalists
- Greek women television presenters
- Aristotle University of Thessaloniki alumni
- 20th-century Greek women
- 21st-century women MEPs for Greece