College of Europe rector Jorg Monar has confirmed payments from Saudi Arabia to set up private meetings with MEPs - and attacked the media for reporting it as lobbying.
In a letter addressed to the chair of the European Parliament's budgetary control committee and seen by this website, Monar says that "the Saudi government has been charged for the training provided in line with our usual tariffs."
In his letter, dated 21 February, he also described media that reported the paid Sau...
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Nikolaj joined EUobserver in 2012 and covers home affairs. He is originally from Denmark, but spent much of his life in France and in Belgium. He was awarded the King Baudouin Foundation grant for investigative journalism in 2010.