The President of the European Parliament, Roberta Metsola, confirmed to leaders meeting at the European Council in Brussels, on Thursday 15 December, that she would present a wide-ranging reform project in early 2023 to restore confidence in the institution, following the indictment of MEP Eva Kaili for corruption, money laundering and criminal organisation.
Ms Metsola explained to the EU heads of state and government how the European Parliament had been involved in the Belgian investigation, promising to take strong action.
The internal reform package will aim to strengthen protection for whistleblowers, ban unofficial friendship groups and update the rules on the Code of Conduct, Metsola told the press. It also committed to a comprehensive and thorough review of “the way we interact with third countries”.
“I will personally lead this work and I will consult internally and externally”, she insisted.
Responding to the press, she said that the European Parliament had done a lot of work, “hidden by the actions of a few”. “Our rules can be reviewed”, but at the end of the day, corruption has been uncovered and the corrupt people have been arrested thanks to the European Parliament’s cooperation with the Belgian authorities, the Maltese Christian Democrat added.
According to Ms Metsola, lessons can be learned about the European Transparency Register or how criminal procedures in EU countries could be better aligned to tackle this type of cross-border crime.
“Certain things that have happened must not be allowed to happen again”, Ms Metsola said. It is also necessary to examine the activities of NGOs listed in the transparency register and those of NGOs not listed in the register, such as the association Fight Impunity created by the former MEP Pier-Antonio Panzeri. There is still work to be done on travel expenses and meetings with third countries will have to be made public, she added.
Other avenues: closing the loopholes regarding the rules that apply to former European Parliament members (e.g. to enter the Parliament buildings).
The European Parliament President also confirmed that discussions on visa liberalisation with Qatar were being put on hold to investigate and that questions were being asked about the future of the EU-Qatar aviation agreement.
These proposals are largely reflected in the resolution adopted by the European Parliament in Strasbourg the same day (see EUROPE 13085/1).
On his arrival at the EU summit, French President Emmanuel Macron, who had just returned from Doha where he was attending the football World Cup, advocated for proceeding in an orderly fashion: justice must first do its job on the basis of the facts, after which “appropriate measures” will have to be taken, notably by the European Parliament.
The Italian Prime Minister, Giorgia Meloni, painted an “objectively worrying” scenario. She called for a “firm, decisive” response to restore the “credibility” of the Union. We will probably ask for a full investigation of what is going on, she added.
On Thursday evening, the Party of European Socialists (PES) officially reacted to ‘Qatargate’. “Corruption of any kind is totally unacceptable. These allegations have shaken the foundations of European politics. The PES supports the S&D in the internal investigation announced”, said its President, Stefan Lofven. He said that in all European institutions “policies must be proactively reassessed to ensure that there are strong safeguards against corruption”, with “all political families” having a duty to participate in this process. (Original version in French by Lionel Changeur with Mathieu Bion)