Brussels, 21/03/2011 (Agence Europe) - Then European Parliament (EP) announced on Sunday 20 March that an investigation was being opened into claims of corruption made by the British newspaper The Sunday Times against three MEPs, one of whom, Austrian Conservative Ernst Strasser (EPP), has already announced his resignation. The other two are former Romanian deputy prime minister Adrian Severin and former Slovenian foreign minister Zoran Thalen, both members of the S&D Group in the EP.
The affair was revealed after Sunday Times journalists, posing as lobbyists, offered the MEPs €100,000 per year to table amendments. The three agreed to the deal. According to the paper Severin even sent the journalists/fake lobbyists an email confirming that he had tabled the amendment they had asked for and shortly afterwards submitted an invoice for €12,000 for advisory services.
“These are grave allegations being made by The Sunday Times and the European Parliament takes them seriously”, EP spokesman Jaume Duch told AFP, stating that the EP “has just opened an investigation into these claims so that the facts can be established”. The information “in the possession of The Sunday Times is presently being sent to the Parliament for careful examination”, Duch went on.
In a press release, S&D leader in the EP Martin Schulz said he had called on his two group members to meet him as quickly as possible. He described the allegations as “extremely serious” and said he would take appropriate and necessary measures if they were confirmed.
In a press release issued on Monday, EPP Group leader Martin Daul also “severely condemned the behaviour of MEPs accused of accepting money in exchange for the tabling of legislative amendments”. He took “note of the resignation of Mr Strasser, who has given up all his political posts. I hope that if the facts reported are proven, the two Socialist MEPs involved will do the same without delay”, he went on. (S.P./transl.rt)