European Parliament

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2025: European Parliament employees detained on charges of taking bribes from Huawei

Belgian prosecutors detained several employees of the European Parliament on suspicion of taking bribes from the Chinese company Huawei. Those arrested are accused of corruption, forgery and using them to benefit the tech giant. This became known in mid-March 2025.

According to Reuters, according to the investigation, corruption crimes have been committed since 2021 under the guise of commercial lobbying. The defendants were rewarded for promoting certain political positions and also accepted excessive gifts, including travel fees, expensive treats and regular invitations to football matches.

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Фото: Bloomberg

Belgian prosecutors claim that these actions were carried out in an atmosphere of increased secrecy and benefited Huawei. As part of this investigation, law enforcement agencies conducted 21 searches in Belgium and Portugal. By order of the court, the offices of two assistants to the MEPs were sealed. In addition, one suspect was detained in France.

Huawei issued an official statement in which it stressed that it takes the allegations seriously and intends to urgently contact the authorities to clarify all the circumstances of the case. Representatives of the Chinese corporation declared their commitment to a zero-tolerance policy on corruption and stressed that they always comply with the laws and regulations of the countries of presence.

The European Parliament received an official request from the Belgian authorities for assistance in the investigation and promised to provide full support to the investigation. At the moment, the prosecutor's office does not disclose the names of the suspects, but it is known that they are being interrogated in connection with alleged corruption and forgery of documents.^[1]

2024

European People's Party and the Right Strengthen Leadership Following Elections

Of Germany's 96 seats in the European Parliament, the CDU/CSU receive 29, the AfD - 15

About 1.4 thousand candidates from 35 parties and other political associations took part in the elections to the European Parliament in Germany. According to preliminary data, the turnout was about 65%, which is higher than the result of the previous vote in 2019 - 61.4%.

In total, the mandates in the EP are designed for 720 deputies, 96 of whom will be from Germany. 

The victory was expected to be won by the CDU/CSU bloc, gaining 30% of the vote - 1.1% more than in 2019. As a result, the block receives 29 seats.

At the same time, Alternative for Germany (AfD) made a confident jump in results. The party managed to lure almost 5% more voters to its side than in the last election. The AfD was supported by 15.9% of Germans - it received 15 mandates, six more than in 2019.

The main failure was the result of the ruling "traffic light" coalition (SPD, Greens and SvPD). Thus, the Social Democrats, led by Chancellor Olaf Scholz, dropped to third place (13.9%), losing almost 2% of the vote, the FDP remained a poor relative with 5.2%. But the Greens faced a new harsh German reality, losing 8.6% of the vote.

At the same time, changes were also noted on the left flank of the German political field. The Left finally deflated, losing more than half of the electorate (2.7% compared to 5.5% in 2019). And the newly created Sarah Wagenknecht Union won 6.2% of the vote on the move, which is a pretty good result.

Of Poland's 53 seats in the European Parliament, the ruling Civic Platform receives 21, PiS - 19

The results of the elections to the European Parliament convocation 2024-2029. for Poland clearly did not come as a particular surprise.

All Polish parties competed for 53 seats out of 720. The turnout was lower than five years ago, slightly exceeding 40%.

Perhaps it was the small turnout that became an advantage for the ruling "Civil Platform" (KO), the leader of which is Prime Minister Donald Tusk. They got most of the mandates - 21.

However, the former ruling and now main opposition party behind Yaroslav Kaczynski's Law and Justice (PiS) leadership did not lag far behind. The results show that they get 19 seats in the EP.

More interesting is the fact that the third place was taken by the far-right Confederation party, which was supported by more than 12% of voters. This was her best result in the European elections. Thus, the deputies of the "Confederation" will take six places. For the general policy of Brussels, this, of course, will not change anything, but for the right itself this is a success.

In fourth place was the Third Way coalition: it was supported by 6.91% of voters, which means four seats. And the New Left will receive three mandates.

The European Parliament elections in Poland again reflected the polarity of society: the gap between the results of the Tusk and Kaczynski parties is only a few percent.

In Spain, the opposition People's Party won the EP elections with 34.2% of the vote

In Spain, the opposition People's Party won the European Parliament elections with 34.2% of the vote. It is followed by the Spanish Socialist Workers' Party (30.2%), the right-wing VOX party (9.6%), Ahora Repúblicas (4.9%), Sumar (4.7%), SALF (4.6%), Podemos (3.3%), Junts i Lliures per Europa (2.6%) and the Coalition for a Solidarity Europe (1.6%).

In Italy, the ruling party of Prime Minister Georgie Meloni "Brothers of Italy" received the majority of votes in the EP elections

In Italy, the majority of votes was received by the ruling party of Prime Minister Giorgi Meloni "Brothers of Italy" (28.8%), in second place - the opposition Democratic Party (24%), followed by the allies of "Brothers," the party "Forward, Italy" (9.7%).

2019: EPP and S&D control more than 44% of seats