Beautiful Virgin Islands

Thursday, Oct 09, 2025

EU’s Qatar corruption scandal brings French links under scrutiny

EU’s Qatar corruption scandal brings French links under scrutiny

French lawmakers have questioned the country’s lobbying rules in light of the EU scandal.

Just as French President Emmanuel Macron is swooping into Qatar for the historic World Cup match between France and Morocco, the Gulf state’s corruption scandal in the European Parliament is making its way to Paris. 

The French head of state ignored calls from opposition lawmakers — including former presidential candidate and Greens MEP Yannick Jadot — to cancel his trip in the wake of the allegations that have already taken down European Parliament former Vice President Eva Kaili.

It’s no surprise that the Qatar corruption scandal at the heart of the EU has become part of the political conversation in France, as Paris has had a decades-long special — and sometimes controversial — relationship with Doha in areas including security, energy and culture.  

The Gulf state has also heavily invested in France and owns one of the country’s flagship football clubs: Paris Saint-Germain. 

On Tuesday, the French government was confronted in the National Assembly by the opposition about the national rules on lobbying. The framework, a Socialist lawmaker argued, is not fit-for-purpose to prevent similar corruption from foreign countries in France. 

“The facts you mention are serious, it is up to the European institutions to shed light on them and draw consequences,” replied junior minister Olivia Grégoire, adding that the executive branch is open to taking another look at the rules to make them stronger. 

The corruption allegations in the European Parliament have so far spared French MEPs. Several French lawmakers in Brussels including Manon Aubry and Leïla Chaibi from the Left group said they had been approached by the Gulf state but declined to engage. 

However, France is far from immune from the petromonarchy’s influence. 

Qatar has long-running close ties with France’s political elite, including former French President Nicolas Sarkozy.

An ongoing investigation by the French financial prosecutor’s office is looking into potential corruption charges related to Qatar being awarded the 2022 World Cup and the role played by high-ranking French officials.

The World Cup has proven controversial in France, including with left-leaning mayors who decided to boycott the game. In November, Alexis Corbière, a leading figure on the left, publicly denounced Qatar’s intense lobbying efforts to change his mind on the World Cup, which he labelled a “social, ecological and democratic aberration.” 

Nonetheless, in France’s Parliament, Qatar has emerged as a go-to destination for lawmakers, according to data analyzed by POLITICO’s Paris Influence. 



Qatar is the fourth most-visited country by French MPs and senators since 2019, ranking right behind high-profile countries that are targets of French diplomacy such as Israel, the U.S. and China. In total, 12 lawmakers have spent a total of 38 days in the country.

And while lawmakers’ foreign trips can be financed by the private sector, trips to Qatar have been funded directly by the Gulf state, as evidenced in official records. 

Official records however do not provide information on budgets and spending, which makes it harder to put a price tag on those travels.

A few lawmakers including centrist senator Olivier Cadic, a staunch defender of Doha, have attended games at the Qatar World Cup. If France wins the semi finals, Macron will travel back to the Arabian peninsula on Sunday.

Newsletter

Related Articles

Beautiful Virgin Islands
0:00
0:00
Close
France: Less Than a Month After His Appointment, the New French Prime Minister Resigns
Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán stated that Hungary will not adopt the euro because the European Union is falling apart.
Sarah Mullally Becomes First Woman Appointed Archbishop of Canterbury
Mayor in western Germany in intensive care after stabbing
Australian government pays Deloitte nearly half a million dollars for a report built on fabricated quotes, fake citations, and AI-generated nonsense.
US Prosecutors Gained Legal Approval to Hack Telegram Servers
Macron Faces Intensifying Pressure to Resign or Trigger New Elections Amid France’s Political Turmoil
Standard Chartered Names Roberto Hoornweg as Sole Head of Corporate & Investment Banking
UK Asylum Housing Firm Faces Backlash Over £187 Million Profits and Poor Living Conditions
UK Police Crack Major Gang in Smuggling of up to 40,000 Stolen Phones to China
BYD’s UK Sales Soar Nearly Nine-Fold, Making Britain Its Biggest Market Outside China
Trump Proposes Farm Bailout from Tariff Revenues Amid Backlash from Other Industries
FIFA Accuses Malaysia of Forging Citizenship Documents, Suspends Seven Footballers
Latvia to Bar Tourist and Occasional Buses to Russia and Belarus Until 2026
A Dollar Coin Featuring Trump’s Portrait Expected to Be Issued Next Year
Australia Orders X to Block Murder Videos, Citing Online Safety and Public Exposure
Three Scientists Awarded Nobel Prize in Medicine for Discovery of Immune Self-Tolerance Mechanism
OpenAI and AMD Forge Landmark AI-Chip Alliance with Equity Option
Munich Airport Reopens After Second Drone Shutdown
France Names New Government Amid Political Crisis
Trump Stands Firm in Shutdown Showdown and Declares War on Drug Cartels — Turning Crisis into Opportunity
Surge of U.S. Billionaires Transforms London’s Peninsula Apartments into Ultra-Luxury Stronghold
Pro Europe and Anti-War Babiš Poised to Return to Power After Czech Parliamentary Vote
Jeff Bezos Calls AI Surge a ‘Good’ Bubble, Urges Focus on Lasting Innovation
Japan’s Ruling Party Chooses Sanae Takaichi, Clearing Path to First Female Prime Minister
Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs Sentenced to Fifty Months in Prison Following Prostitution Conviction
Taylor Swift’s ‘Showgirl’ Launch Extends Billion-Dollar Empire
Trump Administration Launches “TrumpRx” Plan to Enable Direct Drug Sales at Deep Discounts
Trump Announces Intention to Impose 100 Percent Tariff on Foreign-Made Films
Altman Says GPT-5 Already Outpaces Him, Warns AI Could Automate 40% of Work
Singapore and Hong Kong Vie to Dominate Asia’s Rising Gold Trade
Trump Organization Teams with Saudi Developer on $1 Billion Trump Plaza in Jeddah
Manhattan Sees Surge in Office-to-Housing Conversions, Highest Since 2008
Switzerland and U.S. Issue Joint Assurance Against Currency Manipulation
Electronic Arts to Be Taken Private in Historic $55 Billion Buyout
Thomas Jacob Sanford Named as Suspect in Deadly Michigan Church Shooting and Arson
Russian Research Vessel 'Yantar' Tracked Mapping Europe’s Subsea Cables, Raising Security Alarms
New York Man Arrested After On-Air Confession to 2017 Parents’ Murders
U.S. Defense Chief Orders Sudden Summit of Hundreds of Generals and Admirals
Global Cruise Industry Posts Dramatic Comeback with 34.6 Million Passengers in 2024
Trump Claims FBI Planted 274 Agents at Capitol Riot, Citing Unverified Reports
India: Internet Suspended in Bareilly Amid Communal Clashes Between Muslims and Hindus
Supreme Court Extends Freeze on Nearly $5 Billion in U.S. Foreign Aid at Trump’s Request
Archaeologists Recover Statues and Temples from 2,000-Year-Old Sunken City off Alexandria
China Deploys 2,000 Workers to Spain to Build Major EV Battery Factory, Raising European Dependence
Speed Takes Over: How Drive-Through Coffee Chains Are Rewriting U.S. Coffee Culture
U.S. Demands Brussels Scrutinize Digital Rules to Prevent Bias Against American Tech
Ringo Starr Champions Enduring Beatles Legacy While Debuting Las Vegas Art Show
Private Equity’s Fundraising Surge Triggers Concern of European Market Shake-Out
Colombian President Petro Vows to Mobilize Volunteers for Gaza and Joins List of Fighters
×