Almost 13 months after the eruption of "Qatargate" – a corruption scandal targeting members of the European Parliament that also involved Morocco and Mauritania – there are increasing questions in Brussels about the management of the investigation. Consequently, some sources are now suggesting that a standstill could even lead to the prosecution being dropped.

On December 9, 2022, significant police operations took place in the Belgian capital targeting the former Italian Socialist MEP Pier Antonio Panzeri and his former assistant Francesco Giorgi, partner of the Greek MEP Eva Kaili, a member of the Social Democrat group and one of the European Parliament's vice-presidents. A total of €878,355 was found in the couple's apartment and €669,950 in Panzeri's home. Millions of euros had been paid by the countries involved in an attempt to influence decisions at various levels of European power.

What was initially presented as a vast network of influence soon implicated several other well-known people who are still being investigated by the police and the courts. Despite this, the main protagonists who had confessed, including Panzeri, have been released pending trial.

Will it actually take place? The question no longer seems taboo in legal circles. "It's 50-50," confided a source wishing to remain anonymous. In any case, leaks and, in some cases, public statements by those involved – including Kaili – have been increasing in recent weeks, confirming the anxiety of the various parties involved. Federal prosecutor Frédéric Van Leeuw spoke of the climate around the case to RTBF in September 2023: "I've been a federal prosecutor for almost 10 years, and I've never seen so much pressure on a case. There are leaks everywhere, there are foreign magistrates who contact us and sometimes want to interfere in the investigation, there's a frenzy surrounding the previous examining magistrate and his family. I find it disgusting."

The "previous investigating judge" was Michel Claise, who had to step down in June 2023 due to a potential conflict of interest given that his son founded a company with a son of Marie Arena, a Belgian MEP close to Panzeri. The Socialist MEP was implicated by her country's intelligence services, who portrayed her as a "link" in the Panzeri network. She has defended herself and said she has made several requests to appear before Aurélie Dejaiffe, the magistrate who succeeded Claise. But "nothing is happening," she confirmed to Le Monde.

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