Polish President Andrzej Duda called on EU officials to “put their own house in order” when asked to comment at a press conference in Davos on the corruption scandal engulfing the European Parliament.
Despite assurances from eurocrats that they were on top of tackling corruption within EU institutions, Duda reminded them that it was not they themselves who uncovered the corruption scandal, but rather the Belgian public prosecutors together with the French authorities.
“Instead of lecturing others, they should tackle the need for the rule of law in their own ranks,” the Polish president told journalists.
The European Parliament held a debate on the corruption scandal involving Qatar and Morocco on Tuesday afternoon. Patryk Jaki, a Polish MEP from the ruling conservatives, pulled no punches in the debate. He questioned whether the attacks on Poland — which are so frequent in the Parliament — were not a smoke screen for the corruption that was going on with Qatar.
Jaki reminded people that the “No Peace without Justice” organization, whose chief has been arrested over the corruption scandal, is funded by the European Union and has been particularly critical of Poland in the past. According to the Polish MEP, this was likely to be just the tip of the corruption iceberg affecting the EU institutions.
The Polish MEP was particularly scathing about the Socialists, reminding the EU parliament that former German Chancellor and Putin’s friend Gerhard Schroeder was still a member of the SPD.
Patryk Jaki called Schroeder “the greatest symbol of political corruption” and accused the Socialists of doing nothing about it. He added that instead of lecturing others, they should look at themselves in the mirror and deal with the problem.
