The biggest gathering of African leaders outside of Africa is happening at the Washington Convention Center, a summit of around 50 heads of government and President Joe Biden. The president will also speak at a U.S.-Africa Business Forum . POLITICO previously reported that Biden wasn't scheduled to hold any one-to-one meetings with leaders, but the White House has now confirmed "a small group multilateral meeting with leaders." There will also be a summit dinner White House East Room. Full summit schedule . The goal: Narrow a trust and investment gap that is opening up between Washington and African capitals, as China rolls out its trillion-dollar plus Belt and Road infrastructure program, and the EU its $300 billion Global Gateway program — in the context of Africa still struggling to access Covid vaccine supply nearly two years after the shots were widely available in the U.S. Biden is backing the African Union to have a permanent seat at the G-20 . Africa rising: Morocco has another big item on its calendar this week — playing …… of the three-day summit — which kicks off Tuesday morning — Morocco, the first-ever World Cup semi-finalists from Africa, will play France, Wednesday, 2:00 p.m. QATAR CORRUPTION SCANDAL — A REALLY BAD DAY FOR EUROPE'S SOCIALISTS The raids and later arrests are such a scandal because of the high-level figures caught up in them. European Parliament Vice President Eva Kaili, a Greek socialist now stripped of her party membership and suspended from her vice presidential duties, is the highest profile person charged. The European Parliament is a cacophony of different parties; but only one has been caught up in this scandal so far, the European Socialists and Democrats, which looked poised to unseat the center-right European People's Party as the parliament's largest group in a 2024 election. It's too early to tell if there are electoral implications to this scandal, but as lawmakers gather in their Strasbourg home today (the institution shuttles between Brussels and Strasbourg) they're gearing up for an epic session of finger-pointing, Brussels Playbook reports . Top Parliament officials have been cooperating for some time with Belgian police in the secretive investigation led by prosecutor Michel Claise — including by giving them the green light to seal off several Parliament offices and gather evidence, according to EU Parliament officials. Police found around $630,000 in suitcases during raids of 16 homes in Belgium on Friday, and the source, reported by POLITICO and others, is Qatar, though prosecutors have not formally named the gulf state and the Qatari government denies wrongdoing. "The State of Qatar categorically rejects any attempts to associate it with accusations of misconduct," said a Qatari official in a statement emailed to my colleague Sarah Wheaton Sunday morning. Doha has been dogged by years of corruption allegations around his efforts to win the right to host the World Cup. Kaili still in custody : The MEP was previously known as the Parliament's biggest champion of blockchain technology and cryptocurrency, but in recent months has been making a splash describing Qatar as a " frontrunner in labor rights ". Kaili's partner, Francesco Giorgi, was also charged. Others charged include former MEP Pier Antonio Panzeri, involved in an NGO called Fight Impunity, whose high-profile board members included former French Prime Minister Bernard Cazeneuve, former foreign affairs minister for Italy Emma Bonino, a former European Migration Commissioner Dimitris Avramopoulos, former EU foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini and former MEP Cecilia Wikström. All of them resigned from the board during the weekend HOW BIG A DEAL IS THIS? Watchdog groups agree on the superlatives. Transparency International chief Michiel van Hulten said it could be "the most egregious case" of alleged corruption Parliament has seen. Alberto Alemanno, a law professor at HEC Paris, called it the "most shocking integrity scandal in the history of the EU." German Green MEP Daniel Freund, co-chair of the Parliament's internal anti-corruption body called it one of the "most serious corruption scandals in Brussels in recent decades." POLICY CONSEQUENCES FROM QATARGATE: A vote planned for this week on visa liberalization for Qatari citizens — which would see citizens from a suite of Gulf State countries be allowed visa-free access to the EU, if approved — is likely to be punted back to committee. Parliament's Foreign Affairs Committee planned to head to Saudi Arabia and Qatar in the coming weeks. Now the latter part has been canceled — meaning a top rival of Doha gets all the attention, right when it was supposed to be basking in a post-World Cup afterglow. Challenge for the international trade union movement: Among those arrested on Friday , though he has not been charged, was Luca Visentini, the newly elected head of the International Confederation of Free Trade Unions. Sharan Burrow, the previous ICFTU leader whose term ended this month, had invested heavily in engaging with the Qataris to push for improvements in the country's labor laws. Visentini has been a leading figure for European trade unions for years.
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