Italian court agrees to extradite EU lawmaker to Belgium

FILE PHOTO: Members of the European Parliament vote on lifting immunity for Italian lawmaker Andrea Cozzolino and Belgian lawmaker Marc Tarabella, both of the centre-left Socialists and Democrats, who Belgian investigators want to question over a cash-for-influence corruption scandal, in Brussels, Belgium February 2, 2023. REUTERS/Yves Herman

MILAN (Reuters) - An Italian court on Tuesday agreed to extradite to Belgium an EU lawmaker under investigation in a cash-for-influence corruption scandal at the European Parliament, one of his lawyers said.

The scandal, the biggest to rock European Union politics in decades, hinges on suspicions that Qatar and Morocco bribed politicians, parliamentary assistants and NGOs to influence decision-making in the EU assembly.