Politics
German parliament passes debt rule reform, half-trillion euro fund
Germany's outgoing parliament on Tuesday passed a massive increase in government borrowing, including a sweeping change to the country's debt rules.
The European Parliament on Tuesday afternoon stripped its former vice-president Eva Kaili of her immunity, clearing the way for an investigation of Kaili's alleged involvement in a 150,000 euro ($161,355) EU budget fraud case from 2015.
Eva Kaili, Reuters/Nicolas Economou
The European Parliament on Tuesday afternoon stripped its former vice-president Eva Kaili of her immunity, clearing the way for an investigation of Kaili's alleged involvement in a 150,000 euro ($161,355) EU budget fraud case from 2015.
The fraud case is unrelated to the corruption scandal dubbed Qatargate, in which the Greek politician is also involved.
The report that was put to vote states that in the fraud case Kaili is accused of fraudulently spending between €120,000 and €150,000 of public money.
If found guilty, she faces 5 to 15 years in prison under Greek law.
The office of Kaili's lawyer, Spyros Pappas, did not immediately reply to a Reuters' request for comment but Pappas told news outlet Politico before the vote that he would take further legal action if Kaili's immunity were lifted.
He told Politico that the notion that Kaili could serve prison time based on the outcome of the investigation is “at this stage rather premature and unsubstantiated”.
($1 = 0.9296 euros)
Reporting by Charlotte Van Campe
Germany's outgoing parliament on Tuesday passed a massive increase in government borrowing, including a sweeping change to the country's debt rules.
Democratic Republic of Congo President Felix Tshisekedi and his Rwandan counterpart Paul Kagame held face-to-face talks on Tuesday mediated by the emir of Qatar to address the conflict in eastern Congo, the three governments said.
Former Georgian president Mikheil Saakashvili was sentenced on Monday to four-and-a-half more years in jail after being found guilty of illegally crossing the state border, Georgian news agency Interpress reported.
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