Brussels, 13/10/2014 (Agence Europe) - The members of the European Parliament need to provide greater transparency over the remuneration they receive from their related activities, the organisation Transparency International recommended on Monday 13 October, in a study which reveals that the members of the European Parliament earn a total of between €5.8 million and €18.3 million between them, on top of their official salaries.
“With more than half of the MEPs engaged in activities outside the European Parliament, it is important for the citizens to know exactly what are their private interests when they are at the same time exercising public duties”, the NGO explains (our translation). Transparency International argues that this is a matter of re-establishing the confidence of the citizens in the EU. It is behind the website Integrity Watch, which compiles the existing data on the 751 members of the European Parliament and their activities on the basis of their declarations of interest published by the Parliament.
“The data show that European politicians have alarming levels of private interests: 175 MEPs earn at least €500 a month from their external activities, 12 MEPs earn more than €10,000 a month and there is one MEP who has declared 68 different external activities. The database shows the scale of the activities being carried out away from the EP, but often raises more questions than answers”, says the NGO in a press release. According to the study, 398, or 53%, of the MEPs have external activities, but it is hard to prove whether these MEPs are in a situation of conflicts of interests, due to the vague descriptions they give their activities, the NGO writes. (SP)