Antonio Panzeri

{{Infobox officeholder

|name = Antonio Panzeri

|image = Pier Antonio Panzeri MEP, Strasbourg - Diliff.jpg

|caption = Panzeri in 2016

|office = Member of the European Parliament
for North-West Italy

|term_start = 20 July 2004

|term_end = 1 July 2019

|birth_name = Pier Antonio Panzeri

|birth_date = {{birth date and age|1955|6|6|df=y}}

|birth_place = Riviera d'Adda, Italy

|death_date =

|death_place =

|party = PCI (until 1991)
PDS (1991–1998)
DS (1998–2007)
PD (2007–2017)
Art.1 (2017–2022)
Independent (since 2022)

|otherparty = Progressive Alliance of Socialists and Democrats

|spouse = Maria Dolores Colleoni

|children = 1

|education =

| module1 =

|module2 = {{Listen|pos=center|embed=yes|filename= Pierantonio Panzeri.ogg|title=Pier Antonio Panzeri's voice|type=speech|description=Recorded July 2019}}

}}

Pier Antonio Panzeri (born 6 June 1955) is an Italian politician who served as a Member of the European Parliament from 2004 until 2019. In December 2022, in connection with the Qatar corruption scandal at the European Parliament, Panzeri was arrested and charged with corruption, money laundering and directing a criminal organisation. The following month, he entered into a plea bargain, in which he admitted his guilt and revealed information about the alleged criminal network in return for a lighter sentence.

Career

Panzeri was born in Riviera d'Adda, province of Bergamo. Between 1995 and 2003, he was General Secretary of the Milan Chamber of Labour.{{cite web|url=https://parltrack.org/mep/28365/Pier%20Antonio%20PANZERI#/cv|title=Pier Antonio Panzeri|access-date=19 January 2025|work=parltrack}} From 1996 until 2003, Panzeri worked with the city authorities of Milan, Barcelona, and Frankfurt, in the context of an international project to compare experiences regarding economic development, immigration and welfare, and to devise a future European municipality model.{{cn|date=January 2025}} From 2003 to 2004, he was responsible for European policies; he devised and carried out a humanitarian mission to Belém, Brazil, and was a promoter and organiser of events to help the civilian victims of the Yugoslav wars. He attended the General Assembly of the United Nations as an observer for Israeli-Palestinian issues.{{cn|date=January 2025}}

=Member of the European Parliament, 2004–2019=

Panzeri became a Member of the European Parliament in the 2004 elections when he represented the Democrats of the Left in the North-West constituency. He later represented the Democratic Party and Article One. During his three terms in the European Parliament, he was a member of the Socialist Group in the European Parliament (2004-2009) and the Progressive Alliance of Socialists and Democrats group (2009-2019).{{cite web|url=https://www.europarl.europa.eu/meps/en/28365/PIER+ANTONIO_PANZERI/history/8#detailedcardmep|title=Pier Antonio Panzeri|access-date=19 January 2025|work=European Parliament}}

From 2009 until 2019, Panzeri served on the Committee on Foreign Affairs (AFET). In 2014, he also joined its Subcommittee on Human Rights (DROI). In this capacity, he was also a member of the Democracy Support and Election Coordination Group (DEG), which oversees the Parliament's election observation missions.[http://www.europarl.europa.eu/intcoop/election_observation/members_en.htm Members of the Democracy Support and Election Coordination Group (DEG)] European Parliament

In addition to his committee assignments, Panzeri served as chairman of the parliament's delegation for relations with the Maghreb countries and the Arab Maghreb Union. He was previously a member of the delegations to the Parliamentary Assembly of the Mediterranean (2009-2014) and for relations with the United States (2004-2009). He was a member of the European Parliament Intergroup on Integrity (Transparency, Anti-Corruption and Organized Crime)[http://www.europarl.europa.eu/pdf/intergroupes/VIII_LEG_13_Integrity_20151112.pdf Members of the European Parliament on Integrity (Transparency, Anti-Corruption and Organized Crime)] European Parliament. and of the European Parliament Intergroup on LGBT Rights.[http://www.lgbt-ep.eu/about/members/ Members] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190327004733/http://www.lgbt-ep.eu/about/members/ |date=2019-03-27 }} European Parliament Intergroup on LGBTI Rights. He was also part of the Elie Wiesel Network of Parliamentarians for the Prevention of Genocide and Mass Atrocities and against Genocide Denial.[http://www.egam.eu/members-of-the-elie-wiesel-network/ Members of the Elie Wiesel Network] European Grassroots Antiracist Movement (EGAM).

=Founder of Fight Impunity=

In September 2019, Panzeri founded a human rights NGO in Brussels, Fight Impunity. The organisation had a number of well-respected board members and honorary board members, who resigned after Panzeri's arrest and were not implicated in criminal activity.{{cite web|url=https://www.iei.ngo/ngo-watchlist/association-against-impunity-and-transitional-justice-fight-impunity|title=Association against injustice and for transitional justice ("Fight Impunity")|date=28 October 2023|work=Institute for European Integrity}} The organisation's mission statement was:

The aim of Fight Impunity is built on the necessity to promote the fight against impunity for serious violations of human rights and crimes against humanity having the principle of accountability as a central pillar of the architecture of international justice.

Fight Impunity failed to file accounts or register with EU's Transparency Register.

December 2022 arrest

Panzeri came under suspicion in 2021 when the Belgian secret service began a corruption probe that would later become known as Qatargate. The investigation initially centred around the European Parliament's relations with Morocco, in particular those concerning fishing rights and the disputed territory of Western Sahara. During his term as an MEP, Panzeri had co-chaired an EU-Morocco joint parliamentary committee with Abderrahim Atmoun, Morocco’s ambassador to Poland, and his voting record showed support for Morocco's interests.{{cite web|url=https://www.ft.com/content/203bbd3e-174a-456e-a187-8b4746010129|title=Spies, cash and luxury hotels: EU corruption probe explores Morocco links|date=11 January 2023|work=Financial Times}} In 2014, King Mohammed VI awarded Panzeri and Atmoun with the third class "wissam" medal for their services to Morocco.{{cite web|url=https://www.politico.eu/article/qatargate-antonio-panzeri-francesco-giogrio-eu-parliament-scandal-the-morocco-connection/|title=EU Parliament scandal: The Morocco connection|date=16 December 2022|work=Politico}} In July 2022, the Belgian secret services installed surveillance equipment in Penzeri's house after discovering €700,000 in cash at the property. The police and prosecutor's office became involved in the investigation, which had widened to include Qatar.

Panzeri was arrested on the morning of 9 December 2022 as Belgian police conducted a series of raids in Brussels. A search uncovered €600,000 cash in his house.{{cite web|url=https://www.france24.com/en/europe/20230121-corruption-cash-and-confessions-who-are-the-key-suspects-in-the-qatargate-scandal|title=Corruption, cash and confessions: Who are the key suspects in the Qatargate scandal ?|date=21 January 2023|work=France 24}} He was charged with corruption, money laundering and directing a criminal organisation and detained in Saint-Gilles Prison in Brussels.{{cite web|url=https://www.lesoir.be/540340/article/2023-09-29/qatargate-antonio-panzeri-libere|title=Qatargate : Antonio Panzeri libéré|date=29 September 2023|work=Le Soir}} Also arrested on 9 December on similar charges were: Panzeri's former parliamentary assistant and co-founder of Fight Impunity, Francesco Giorgi; Giorgi's partner, MEP Eva Kaili; and Niccolo Figa-Talamanca, head of No Peace Without Justice, an NGO that shared office space with Fight Impunity.

Panzeri initially denied that he had been involved in corruption, saying that he had simply been paid for lobbying and had not declared the cash as Qatar wanted it kept quiet.{{cite web|url=https://www.politico.eu/article/european-parliament-corruption-scandal-qatargate-police-interviews-pier-antonio-panzeri-francesco-giorgi-eva-kaili-andrea-cozzolino/|title=Denial, grief, acceptance:Inside the Qatargate police interrogations|date=4 December 2023|work=Politico}} But on 17 January 2023 he agreed a plea bargain with prosecutors, in which, in return for a lighter sentence, he admitted his guilt and agreed to disclose information about how the network operated and who was involved.{{cite web|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-64306691|title=Italian Pier Antonio Panzeri held in EU-Qatargate bribery probe agrees to tell all|date=18 January 2023|work=BBC}} Following the plea deal, the Belgian authorities withdrew their extradition request for Panzeri's wife and daughter, who had been arrested in Italy on suspicion of complicity in the affair.{{cite web|url=https://www.politico.eu/article/qatargate-corruption-belgian-court-withdraws-extradition-request-panzeris-italian-court-maria-dolores-colleoni-silvia-panzeri-pier-antonio-qatar-morocco-fight-impunity/|title=Belgian court withdraws Qatargate extradition request for Panzeri’s family|date=25 January 2023|work=Politico}} Panzeri revealed to the authorities that he had received money from Mauritania, as well as Morocco and Qatar.{{cite web|url=https://www.politico.eu/article/qatargate-corruption-scandal-europe-panzeri-called-mauritania-gate/|title=What happened to Qatargate’s forgotten country, Mauritania? |date=11 August 2023|work=Politico}}

After four months in prison, Panzeri was moved to house arrest with an electronic tag. In September 2023, his request to have the electronic tag removed and be released from house arrest was granted, on condition he did not contact any of the other suspects.