BUDAPEST, Feb 12 The European Parliament is one of the most corrupt organizations in the world, Hungarian Minister of Foreign Affairs and Foreign Economic Relations Péter Szijjártó said on Kossuth radio.
«I can think of very few statements, European Parliament resolutions that would help Europe. <…> European Parliament resolutions usually harmed Europe,» he said.
According to the diplomat, corruption scandals have lowered confidence in the European Parliament «almost to zero», showing the essence of the organization.
In addition, Szijjártó repeated Budapest's official position on Ukraine, according to which Hungary opposes anti-Russian sanctions in the energy sector, does not send weapons to Kiev and insists on a ceasefire and peace talks.
Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban has previously advocated reform of the European Parliament after a corruption scandal, proposing to dissolve the existing one and create a new one from national delegates. The politician also called for «draining the corruption swamp» in the EU, hinting that the «threads» from the scandal with the detention of the deputy chairman of the European Parliament could lead to the very top.
In early December last year, the Belgian police and prosecutors conducted several arrests and searches Brussels, home of the European Parliament, due to an investigation into allegations of corruption linked to the hosting of the World Cup in Qatar. In particular, the police detained the Deputy Chairman of the European Parliament, the Greek politician Eva Kaili and her partner, and a search was conducted at the place of residence.
Orban ironically commented on her detention, recalling that Hungary is not being paid funds from EU funds, allegedly because of allegations of corruption.