Power for Sale, Ep. 4: Business as Usual

As I'm recording this, we are just days ahead of European Parliament elections.

But the Qatargate scandal is far from over.

No suspect has had their day in court.

And we still haven't seen any significant changes to how members of the European Parliament interact with foreign governments.

Qatargate could have been a wake-up call.

But instead, the European Parliament went back to business as usual.

And for Qatar, this seems to have been a pretty good deal.

They got a successful World Cup and a public that's mostly forgotten about the deaths of migrant workers.

Then it turned out they weren't the only country suspected of bribing lawmakers.

With European Parliament elections just six weeks away, fears are mounting that democracy in the EU could be under threat from spies.

Across Western Europe, anxiety about Chinese spying is growing.

EU

leaders are sounding the alarm of potential Russian interference in the upcoming European Parliamentary elections.

Belgium is investigating a pro-Russian influence network suspected of operating at the heart of the European institutions in Brussels.

There have been real consequences to the EU not cleaning up its act.

Qatargate should have put a stop to scandals at the European Parliament.

But instead, there's been raid after raid.

More foreign interference scandals involving Russia and China broke in 2024.

First, in January, a Latvian politician and 20-year veteran of the European Parliament was accused of being a Russian spy.

Longtime Latvian MEP Tatjana Zdanoka has been accused of spying for the Kremlin.

She denies it, but she's now been

sanctioned and fined by the European Parliament.

Then in March, news broke of an alleged Russian influence operation in Europe, paying politicians to peddle pro-Kremlin propaganda and get more Moscow-friendly lawmakers elected.

It should be a celebration of European democracy, but officials are concerned that Russia is attempting to influence the outcome.

In April, a staffer for a German far-right MEP was arrested on suspicion of spying for Beijing.