European Commissioner Margaritis Schinas, whose past tweets regarding Qatar have come under scrutiny in recent days in light of suspicions of corruption by that state, strongly defended his actions on Tuesday. The Greek maintained that he had constantly defended, also in his interventions via Twitter, the official position of the Commission.
He himself was present at the opening of the FIFA World Cup. “It was the first global sporting event post-pandemic, and Europe might not be absent“, he assured in response to questions from journalists, on the sidelines of the plenary of the European Parliament in Strasbourg. He had tweeted on this occasion on the “considerable progress“received by Qatar in labor law reforms, reforms which must, he added, maintain their effects beyond the event.
The recent revelation in the press of the existence of a judicial inquiry into alleged acts of corruption orchestrated by Doha and aimed at (former) MEPs has suddenly cast suspicion on these positions deemed to be very conciliatory. Without reason, according to Commissioner Schinas, who recalls having met on the spot representatives of the International Labor Organization (ILO).