The European Greens are insisting that the President of the European Parliament, Roberta Metsola, speeds up the Parliament's investigation into links between MEPs and foreign powers, in response to the breaking news that German police have arrested an EP assistant of Alternative for Germany's top candidate for the European elections, Maximilan Krah (far right ID Group in the EP), on suspicion of being an agent of the Chinese secret service.
Terry Reintke, lead candidate for the European Greens, said: "Autocracies like China and Russia are actively trying to undermine our democracies in Europe. This must stop. The investigation within the European Parliament must be speeded up. We demand preliminary results before the elections. Consequences must follow swiftly. People who attack the integrity of our democracies must be held to account."
European Greens lead candidate Bas Eickhout added: "Citizens will vote for the European Parliament in less than 7 weeks. They need to be 100% sure that the candidates standing in the elections are democratically working for Europe - and not for Russia, China or any other authoritarian regime. Citizens must know who they are voting for."
The news of the arrest of an alleged Chinese spy comes on top of the earlier Russiagate scandal. In that case, a network around Putin paid MEPs to work for Russia, according to the Belgian and Czech prime ministers. The ID group in the parliament will also have to explain why it did not take action, given that there had long been public doubts about the man's connections.
