Meloni calls for 'firm reaction' to Qatargate

(ANSAmed) - BRUSSELS, DEC 15 - Italian Premier Giorgia Meloni on Thursday called for strong response to the Qatargate case, in which several Italians are accused of involvement in corruption in order to sway the European Parliament's positions with respect to the Middle Eastern country.
    In speaking on her way into the European Council, Meloni stressed that, "in these cases I believe that the reaction counts a great deal and the reaction must be firm and decisive".
    The centre-right European People's Party (EPP) is meanwhile preparing to officially request the suspension of the activities of the European Parliament's Subcommittee on Human Rights (DROI).
    Sources from the parliamentary group claimed that the subcommittee is a "socialist crime scene and should be sealed".
    The sources said that by the end of the day on Thursday the EPP would send a petition to European Parliament president Roberta Metsola asking the MEP "Maria Arena (S&D) to resign immediately from her position as president of the subcommittee on human rights".
    In the draft letter, seen by ANSA, the EPP also asked for "all activities of the aforementioned subcommittee to be suspended until the investigation" into alleged corruption "is over and a radical revision of its work is undertaken".(ANSAmed).