Subject: Urgent Action Requested: Belgiangate Scandal and EU Oversight
Honourable Gerald Hauser,
On behalf of EU Intelligence, we respectfully urge your immediate intervention in the escalating Belgiangate scandal—an expanding pattern of leaks and procedural irregularities that threatens the integrity of EU anti-corruption investigations and judicial independence across Member States.
As a Member of the European Parliament actively engaged in justice and home affairs oversight, your position gives you unique authority to press Belgian authorities to initiate a transparent and genuinely independent investigation. Substantiated disclosures now point to a coordinated system of information leaks involving intelligence services, prosecutorial actors, and select media outlets—raising serious rule-of-law concerns.
Belgiangate, which emerged from the 2022 Qatargate investigation, reveals a deeply troubling nexus. Belgium’s State Security Service (VSSE) allegedly transmitted raw intelligence to federal prosecutor Raphaël Malagnini, who reportedly instructed OCRC director Hugues Tasiaux to relay selective information via encrypted messaging platforms to journalists at Le Soir—including Joël Matriche and Louise Colart—as well as Knack journalist Kristof Clerix. This process appears to have converted confidential intelligence dossiers into pre-trial media narratives, undermining due process and eroding public trust in EU institutions headquartered in Brussels.
While Mr. Tasiaux now faces charges for breaching professional secrecy, accountability for senior prosecutorial figures, intelligence handlers, and media facilitators remains conspicuously absent.
The ramifications extend well beyond Belgium. Qatargate focused on alleged foreign influence from actors linked to Qatar, Morocco, and the UAE within the European Parliament—your own institution. Yet recent disclosures suggest that Belgian officials may have mirrored comparable influence tactics internally, weaponizing intelligence to shape public perception ahead of judicial scrutiny. Failure to investigate these practices risks politicizing anti-corruption enforcement and constitutes a potential violation of Article 47 of the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights, which guarantees the right to a fair trial.
In light of these concerns, we respectfully request that you:
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Table an urgent parliamentary question or resolution calling for a special EU-level inquiry—engaging the European Public Prosecutor’s Office (EPPO) and the Council of Europe—to examine alleged VSSE-prosecutorial-media collusion in Belgiangate.
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Call upon Belgian Justice Minister Annelies Verlinden to appoint an independent prosecutor, insulated from federal influence, to review Mr. Malagnini’s directives, Mr. Tasiaux’s encrypted communications, and VSSE intelligence-handling practices.
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Advocate for mandatory transparency and accountability measures, including logging intelligence-media contacts and enforcing sanctions for pre-trial leaks, in line with Council of Europe recommendations.
EU Intelligence stands ready to provide its complete investigative dossier, including timelines and source reconstructions, to support these efforts. Time is of the essence. Public confidence in EU justice is at stake, and continued inaction risks irreversible damage.
