Saudi Press

Saudi Arabia and the world
Sunday, Aug 10, 2025

Why the lobbying scandal won’t kill Qatar’s aviation deal with the EU

Why the lobbying scandal won’t kill Qatar’s aviation deal with the EU

The Open Skies agreement has been in place for over a year, and there’s little desire to end it.
Don't worry, intercontinental travelers: Allegations of rampant corruption in the European Parliament won't put a hard stop to the aviation deal between the EU and Qatar.

With a bribery scandal blazing through Parliament, lawmakers voted Thursday to suspend all work relating to Qatar — which includes the final approval of the bloc's aviation agreement with the Gulf state.

However, that won't have any immediate impact on the aviation deal. It was signed last year and is already in effect while member countries get around to ratifying it, something only six countries — Ireland, Austria, Latvia, Greece, Estonia and the Czech Republic — have done. It needs a sign-off from all 27 member countries before going to Parliament for a final nod, a process an EU official said could take from five to 10 years.

That's not stopping members of Parliament from distancing themselves from the deal.

German liberal lawmaker MEP Jan-Christoph Oetjen told Germany's ZDF that he’d received offers to visit Qatar, but that he turned them down. The ratification process should be interrupted, he said, “so we can figure out whether Qatar has had any influence.”

French far-left MEP Leïla Chaibi, who proposed the measure on Qatar-related files, blasted Qatar Airways for being “expert in aggressive lobbying and phishing of MPs." The EU-Qatar aviation deal, Chaibi also said, was now "grounded."

The airline did not respond to requests for comment.

In EU capitals, there's little appetite to upend the aviation deal, despite controversies when it was negotiated.

It was opposed by big airlines like Lufthansa and Air France-KLM, which worried it gave more benefits to Qatar than to EU carriers.

“It’s not an easy situation,” said one EU diplomat. “It’s not black or white. The EU has to tread very carefully on this.”

The diplomat pointed out EU nations’ financial entanglements with the Gulf state; for instance, Germany last month signed a 15-year liquefied natural gas supply deal with Qatar.

“If they [Qatar] retaliate, especially now it’s very, very cold, imagine how the gas prices will shoot up,” the diplomat said. “That’s what I think member states are considering.”

A diplomat from a second country said any move to revoke the deal would be a “political decision,” and argued that Parliament should deal with its suspicions in-house.

An official from a country that's already ratified the text also ruled out revoking it.

Other countries said they wanted to see the results of any probe before acting.

“We will await the investigation before we draw any conclusions and hope for an update from the [European Parliament] presidency soon,” said a spokesperson for the Dutch government, co-owner of Air France-KLM.

Even a lobby group formed to combat the deal — Europeans for Fair Competition (E4FC) — is taking a wait-and-see approach.

“We are shocked about the corruption claims related to Qatar and MEPs and we welcome the thorough investigation related to the matter. We are closely monitoring the situation,” the lobby group said.
Newsletter

Related Articles

Saudi Press
0:00
0:00
Close
Armenia and Azerbaijan to Sign US-Brokered Framework Agreement for Nakhchivan Corridor
British Labour Government Utilizes Counter-Terrorism Tools for Social Media Monitoring Against Legitimate Critics
WhatsApp Deletes 6.8 Million Scam Accounts Amid Rising Global Fraud
Nine people have been hospitalized and dozens of salmonella cases have been reported after an outbreak of infections linked to certain brands of pistachios and pistachio-containing products, according to the Public Health Agency of Canada
Texas Residents Face Water Restrictions While AI Data Centers Consume Millions of Gallons
Tariffs, AI, and the Shifting U.S. Macro Landscape: Navigating a New Economic Regime
India Rejects U.S. Tariff Threat, Defends Russian Oil Purchases
United States Establishes Strategic Bitcoin Reserve and Digital Asset Stockpile
Thousands of Private ChatGPT Conversations Accidentally Indexed by Google
China Tightens Mineral Controls, Curtailing Critical Inputs for Western Defence Contractors
OpenAI’s Bold Bet: Teaching AI to Think, Not Just Chat
BP’s Largest Oil and Gas Find in 25 Years Uncovered Offshore Brazil
JPMorgan and Coinbase Unveil Partnership to Let Chase Cardholders Buy Crypto Directly
British Tourist Dies Following Hair Transplant in Turkey, Police Investigate
WhatsApp Users Targeted in New Scam Involving Account Takeovers
Trump Deploys Nuclear Submarines After Threats from Former Russian President Medvedev
Germany’s Economic Breakdown and the Return of Militarization: From Industrial Collapse to a New Offensive Strategy
IMF Upgrades Global Growth Forecast as Weaker Dollar Supports Outlook
Politics is a good business: Barack Obama’s Reported Net Worth Growth, 1990–2025
"Crazy Thing": OpenAI's Sam Altman Warns Of AI Voice Fraud Crisis In Banking
Japanese Prime Minister Vows to Stay After Coalition Loses Upper House Majority
President Trump Diagnosed with Chronic Venous Insufficiency After Leg Swelling
Man Dies After Being Pulled Into MRI Machine Due to Metal Chain in New York Clinic
FIFA Pressured to Rethink World Cup Calendar Due to Climate Change
"Can You Hit Moscow?" Trump Asked Zelensky To Make Putin "Feel The Pain"
Nvidia Becomes World’s First Four‑Trillion‑Dollar Company Amid AI Boom
Iranian President Reportedly Injured During Israeli Strike on Secret Facility
Kurdistan Workers Party Takes Symbolic Step Towards Peace in Northern Iraq
BRICS Expands Membership with Indonesia and Ten New Partner Countries
Elon Musk Founds a Party Following a Poll on X: "You Wanted It – You Got It!"
AI Raises Alarms Over Long-Term Job Security
Saudi Arabia Maintains Ties with Iran Despite Israel Conflict
Russia Formally Recognizes Taliban Government in Afghanistan
Mediators Edge Closer to Israel-Hamas Ceasefire Agreement
Emirates Airline Expands Market Share with New $20 Million Campaign
House Oversight Committee Subpoenas Former Jill Biden Aide Amid Investigation into Alleged Concealment of President Biden's Cognitive Health
Amazon Reaches Major Automation Milestone with Over One Million Robots
Meta Announces Formation of Ambitious AI Unit, Meta Superintelligence Labs
China Unveils Miniature Insect-Like Surveillance Drone
Marc Marquez Claims Victory at Dutch Grand Prix Amidst Family Misfortune
Iran Executes Alleged Israeli Spies and Arrests Hundreds Amid Post-War Crackdown
Trump Asserts Readiness for Further Strikes on Iran Amid Nuclear Tensions
Iran's Parliament Votes to Suspend Cooperation with Nuclear Watchdog
Trump Announces Upcoming US-Iran Meeting Amid Controversial Airstrikes
Trump Moves to Reshape Middle East Following Israel-Iran Conflict
NATO Leaders Endorse Plan for Increased Defence Spending
U.S. Crude Oil Prices Drop Below $65 Amid Market Volatility
Explosions Rock Doha as Iranian Missiles Target Qatar
“You Have 12 Hours to Flee”: Israeli Threat Campaign Targets Surviving Iranian Officials
Oman Set to Introduce Personal Income Tax, First in Gulf
×