Budapest Post

Cum Deo pro Patria et Libertate
Budapest, Europe and world news

EU Parliament beer club boots out MEP Tarabella over Qatargate

EU Parliament beer club boots out MEP Tarabella over Qatargate

Belgian MEP’s membership of EP Beer Club has been suspended.
MEP Marc Tarabella swapped one set of bars for another.

An unofficial group based at the European Parliament called the EP Beer Club booted out Tarabella, who was arrested, charged and detained in a corruption scandal dubbed Qatargate that’s rocked Brussels since December.

According to an email from the group’s secretariat to POLITICO, the Beer Club’s president, Slovak center-right MEP Ivan Štefanec, sent Tarabella an email in January informing him that his membership was suspended.

The MEP has been suspended from the Belgian socialist party and the grouping of Socialist and Democrat MEPs in the European Parliament over allegations — which he strongly denies — that he accepted up to €140,000 in bribes in return for doing the bidding of a non-EU country. He was arrested on February 10 and has been in prison ever since.

The EP Beer Club has existed since 1995 and is not an official EU body, but is closely tied to the beer industry’s umbrella lobbying group The Brewers of Europe, which runs the club’s secretariat and has the same Brussels address as the club.

Aside from Tarabella and Štefanec, 58 MEPs are members. According to the club’s website, it “provides a forum to discuss issues affecting the Beer sector.”

Last month the grouping held an event on new EU packaging rules in the Parliament, inviting a top lobbyist from The Brewers of Europe to speak. “At the EP Beer Club, we can see that European brewers take their responsibility towards sustainability seriously,” the club wrote in a statement after the event.

According to an “FAQ” section on the club’s website, the brewers’ lobby group merely “supports” the club and the views expressed by the club or its MEP members “do not necessarily represent the views of The Brewers of Europe, and vice versa.”

In December, Belgian media RTBF investigated whether Tarabella was unduly influenced in his parliamentary work on the EU’s cancer plan by his ties to the alcohol industry through his membership in the club.

Other industry-linked groupings with official-sounding names that hold events in the European Parliament have raised transparency campaigners’ eyebrows in recent years, such as the European Food Forum.

Tarabella has been in pre-trial detention for almost two months, and recently led a failed attempt to get the investigating judge Michel Claise disqualified from working on the case.

A member of Tarabella’s entourage said that they took note of the decision but added: “This won’t deeply change the fate of Marc Tarabella.”
AI Disclaimer: An advanced artificial intelligence (AI) system generated the content of this page on its own. This innovative technology conducts extensive research from a variety of reliable sources, performs rigorous fact-checking and verification, cleans up and balances biased or manipulated content, and presents a minimal factual summary that is just enough yet essential for you to function as an informed and educated citizen. Please keep in mind, however, that this system is an evolving technology, and as a result, the article may contain accidental inaccuracies or errors. We urge you to help us improve our site by reporting any inaccuracies you find using the "Contact Us" link at the bottom of this page. Your helpful feedback helps us improve our system and deliver more precise content. When you find an article of interest here, please look for the full and extensive coverage of this topic in traditional news sources, as they are written by professional journalists that we try to support, not replace. We appreciate your understanding and assistance.
Newsletter

Related Articles

0:00
0:00
Close
Chinese Stock Market Rally Fueled by Domestic Investors
Israeli Airstrike in Yemen Kills Houthi Prime Minister
Ukrainian Nationalist Politician Andriy Parubiy Assassinated in Lviv
Trump Administration Seeks to Repurpose $4.9 Billion in Foreign Aid
Corporate America Cuts Middle Management as Bosses Take On Triple the Workload
Parents Sue OpenAI After Teen’s Death, Alleging ChatGPT Encouraged Suicide
Amazon Faces Lawsuit Over 'Buy' Label on Digital Streaming Content
US Appeals Court Rules Against Most Trump-Era Tariffs
Germany’s Auto Industry Sheds 51,500 Jobs in First Half of 2025 Amid Deepening Crisis
Bruce Willis Relocated Due to Advanced Dementia
French and Korean Nuclear Majors Clash As EU Launches Foreign Subsidy Probe
EU Stands Firm on Digital Rules as Trump Warns of Retaliation
Getting Ready for the 3rd Time in Its History, Germany Approves Voluntary Military Service for Teenagers
Denmark Confronts U.S. Diplomat Over Covert Trump-Linked Influence in Greenland
Trump Demands RICO Charges Against George Soros and Son for Funding Violent Protests
Taylor Swift Announces Engagement to NFL Star Travis Kelce
France May Need IMF Bailout, Warns Finance Minister
After the Shock of Defeat, Iranians Yearn for Change
Ukraine Finally Allows Young Men Aged Eighteen to Twenty-Two to Leave the Country
The Porn Remains, Privacy Disappears: How Britain Broke the Internet in Ten Days
YouTube Altered Content by Artificial Intelligence – Without Permission
Ukrainian Refugee Iryna Zarutska Fled War To US, Stabbed To Death
Elon Musk Sues Apple and OpenAI Over Alleged App Store Monopoly
German Chancellor Friedrich Merz: “The Current Welfare State Can No Longer Be Financed”
HSBC Switzerland Ends Relationships with Over 1,000 Clients from Saudi Arabia, Lebanon, Qatar, and Egypt
Sharia Law Made Legally Binding in Austria Despite Warnings Over 'Incompatible' Values
Dutch Foreign Minister Resigns Amid Deadlock Over Israel Sanctions
Trump and Allies Send Messages of Support to Ukraine on Independence Day Amid Ongoing Conflict
China Reels as Telegram Chat Group Shares Hidden-Camera Footage of Women and Children
MotoGP Cameraman Narrowly Avoids Pedro Acosta Crash at Hungarian Grand Prix
Wizz Air passengers screamed as storm-battered flight diverts to Bologna
European postal services halt U.S. deliveries after Trump imposes new tariffs
Urban explorer finds abandoned luxury restaurant left to decay
Fidesz leader labels Péter Magyar a ‘bluffer’ amid escalating political spat
French rope park operator arrested for denying entry to Israeli children
Újpest thrashes Zalaegerszeg 4-1 to secure first win in five matches
Profit-margin cap costs retailers 13 billion forints a month, warns trade group
Curiosity rover finds coral-like rock on Mars hinting at watery past
U.S. green policy rollback drives investors to Europe’s sustainable finance market
Special funerals rise in Hungary: boat, aerial and forest burials gain popularity
Hungary’s Kiskunság region turning into semi-desert after extreme drought
Kopasz Bálint wins world kayak 1000 m title in Milan, making him triple world champion
Budapest’s Keleti railway station to close for four weeks for track overhaul
Balaton could be unfit for swimming by 2035 and dry by 2050, scientists warn
Leaked guidelines show Meta’s AI allowed flirty and racist interactions with children
Filming of ‘Emily in Paris’ halted after assistant director dies on set
Filipino guest workers sue after Hungary moves to deport them for pregnancy
Ukraine Declares De Facto War on Hungary and Slovakia with Terror Drone Strikes on Their Gas Lifeline
A monster hit and a billion-dollar toy empire
Animated K-pop Musical ‘KPop Demon Hunters’ Becomes Netflix’s Most-Watched Original Animated Film
×