Andrea Cozzolino
# Andrea Cozzolino

Andrea Cozzolino (born 3 August 1962) is an Italian politician who has served as a Member of the European Parliament since 2009. He was elected MEP for the first time in 2009 and then reelected in 2014 and 2019.

## European Parliament

In Parliament, Cozzolino has served on the Committee on Regional Development since 2014. In 2019, he also joined the Subcommittee on Human Rights. Cozzolino has in the past been a member of the Committee on Budgetary Control (2009-2012), the Committee on Budgets (2009-2013) and the Committee on Petitions (2014-2019).

In addition to his committee assignments, Cozzolino has been part of the Parliament's delegations for relations with the Mashriq countries (2014-2019), the Maghreb countries and the Arab Maghreb Union (2019-2023).

Cozzolino voted against the European Parliament resolution of 23 November 2022 on recognising the Russian Federation as a state sponsor of terrorism.

### Qatargate

On 16 December 2022, the National Commission of Guarantee of the PD decided to cautiously suspend Cozzolino from the party, "until the closure of the ongoing investigations by the judiciary related to the 'Qatargate' scandal".

After the announcement by the PD Party Leader in the European Parliament, Brando Benifei, of the party's vote in favour of the request for a waiver of immunity for MEPs Cozzolino and Marc Tarabella, requested by the Belgian Prosecutor and supported by the President Roberta Metsola, Cozzolino declared his intention to renounce it.

On 12 January 2023, Cozzolino resigned all commission posts, withdrew his amendments and, in line with what he previously stated, voted in favour of the request for a waiver of immunity, which was approved by the European Parliament on February 2. Since January 2023, Cozzolino has been under house arrest in Naples pending a hearing to see whether he will be sent to serve the remainder of his sentence in a Belgian jail. The hearing will take place on the 11th of April, 2023.

On 21 June 2023, Cozzolino was charged with bribery, membership of a criminal organisation and money laundering and was conditionally released from house arrest.

