Qatar warns the European Union: We can in turn cut off gas for you – The Times

At a court hearing on Thursday, Kylie, 44, will blame Giorgi, 35, the father of their two-year-old daughter, for implicated her in the scandal without her knowledge, her lawyer told the Times.

Her lawyer, Michalis Dimitrakopoulos, added to the newspaper, “She was used without her knowledge by her partner and the father of her child.” He continued, “Her conscience is clear and she will fight to defend her innocence.”

Dimitrakopoulos, a prominent criminal lawyer in Greece, has advised Kylie since police raided her apartment in Brussels on December 9 and found 150,000 euros among the luggage, according to the Times. Hours earlier, police had found more than 750,000 euros in a bag in a hotel room in Brussels where Kylie’s father was staying.

In another raid on the home of Antonio Panzieri, a former Italian member of the European Parliament and head of a charity, the police seized 600,000 euros.

Prosecutors said, according to the newspaper, that the total amount of 1.5 million euros is a bribery fund used on behalf of Qatar. She indicated that Giorgi is said to have confessed his role.

The Times quoted investigators as saying that the bribery network was established with the aim of helping Qatar reach a positive result in its endeavor to obtain the approval of the European Union to exempt Qataris from the requirement to obtain visas to enter European countries and to open European airspace to Qatari airlines. This was previously negotiated last year.

As vice president and responsible for relations with the Middle East, Kylie allegedly acted inappropriately to influence other MEPs in favor of Qatar.

The newspaper notes that despite reports of the death of workers during the construction of stadiums for the World Cup, Greek socialism described the emirate as a “pioneer in the field of workers’ rights.”

Kylie will appear before the court in Brussels for a hearing and “will insist that the European Union’s recent move to forge closer ties with Qatar has nothing to do with the scandal,” according to the Times.

Her lawyer told the newspaper, “It is indisputable that the European Union is determined to strengthen trade relations with Qatar,” noting that energy supplies, especially liquefied natural gas, are vital for Europe.

“The European Union wanted to secure energy imports to protect its citizens from freezing cold this winter. Eva Kayley had no executive power or authority. She did not act alone.”

Kylie will accuse, according to The Times, other members of the European Parliament of preparing to invite Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani, Emir of Qatar, to address Parliament next month.

Parliament denied the allegations, but Dimitrakopoulos said a “detailed investigation” could implicate the entire European Parliament in the scandal.

On Friday, MEPs voted to suspend legislation on the visa liberalization deal with Qatar and ban all Qatari officials or business representatives from entering the European Parliament.

An official statement issued by Qatar’s official mission to the European Union said, “The decision to impose such a discriminatory restriction that limits dialogue and cooperation with Qatar before the end of the legal process will negatively affect regional and global security cooperation, as well as discussions on global energy.”

Qatari diplomats denied any role for Qatar in the money-for-influence scandal, and denounced the focus only on Qatar, despite suspicions that Morocco was also involved in a similar issue, according to The Times.

In a warning to Belgium and other European countries, Doha reminded Brussels that the Qataris are increasingly important suppliers of liquefied natural gas. The statement said, according to the Times, that Qatar is “an important supplier of liquefied natural gas to Belgium.”

We turn to The Telegraph and an opinion article entitled: “Football is great, but the dark cloud remains.”

The newspaper pointed out that Qatar won the competition despite the lack of any clear footballing tradition in the country and the fact that it cannot be held in the summer.

And she considered that “as is often the case when external events interfere in sport, competition wins,” to finally say that, in the end, despite all the controversy that preceded it, most football fans will remember the Qatar 2022 tournament.

And although Morocco and Croatia threatened for a moment the existing world football order, it ended with an exciting final by two countries that appeared in the finals eight times and won the cup twice. Argentina won on penalties.

And the newspaper considered that “even if the skills of Messi and Mbappe have long lived in the collective sports memory, the political geography” surrounding the event cannot be ignored.

It was “a pivotal moment for Qatar whose rulers will see themselves as the real winners,” according to the Telegraph.

The newspaper explains this by saying that the small, gas-rich country borders Saudi Arabia, with which “relations were far from cordial because they compete for regional influence.”

She added that in the past few years, the Saudis have reportedly “threatened to turn Qatar into an island by building a canal to cut it off from the peninsula,” while other Arab states have also severed relations with it for a variety of reasons.

The Telegraph notes that in the West, Qatar has been accused of “sportswashing” because of its human rights record, particularly towards homosexuals.

But for Qatar, these were secondary considerations, as what was more important was regional power and international reach.

The newspaper says that the huge quantities of natural gas in the country make it impossible to ignore in a period of high energy prices. It also owns the Parisian football club, in which both Messi and Mbappe play.

And the Telegraph considered that Saudi Arabia was “watching the success of its neighbor with envy that was barely hidden and considering submitting its candidacy to host the 2030 World Cup and the 2036 Olympic Games.”

And if that is the case, she noted, it is essential that the process be transparent. “Anything less than that would make awarding the World Cup to Qatar and Russia less suspicious by comparison,” she said.

And finally, from the editorial board of The Independent, and an opinion piece titled: “The rising number of COVID-19 cases should be a wake-up call for all of us.”

The newspaper indicates that Covid has re-emerged strongly in the United Kingdom. And that there was a sharp rise in the number of people requiring hospitalization, with 6,720 people hospitalized with the virus as of December 14, compared to 5,501 during the previous week.

British NHS specialists, according to The Independent, are concerned that people visiting their elderly relatives over Christmas will spread the disease further, and warn that the number of Covid patients in hospitals will reach 10,000 by the end of the year.

The return of the virus comes on top of the “particularly dangerous” flu season, as the newspaper indicated that there are more people with influenza in hospital than with Covid, which creates a double burden on hospitals.

And the Independent considered that this should be a wake-up call for everyone. Noting that the challenge is to limit the spread of Covid in a way that “does not destroy the freedoms we have regained after the lockdown in the past two and a half years.”

And she believes that it will be impossible to return to these restrictions, which have had huge costs in social, health and economic terms, and will continue to affect us for many months to come.