Just over a month after revelations of corruption in the European Parliament involving one of the institution’s 14 vice-presidents, Eva Kaili, MEPs debated new developments in the case and the response to be made at Parliament level on Tuesday 17 January in Strasbourg.
While the majority of groups welcomed the package of proposals by European Parliament President Roberta Metsola (EPP, Maltese) to strengthen integrity, independence and accountability within the institution (see EUROPE 13098/8), several called for more, both in the debate and at a press conference.
The president of Renew Europe, Stéphane Séjourné (French), stressed, for example, the need to create “an interinstitutional ethical body”, a request from the Parliament dating from September 2021 (see EUROPE 12792/9).
According to his colleague Nathalie Loiseau (Renew Europe, French), this “independent” body should “draw inspiration from best practices such as the ‘High Authority for the Transparency of Public Life’ in France”. This idea is shared by Pascal Durand (S&D, French), for whom the French example is currently “the best” available.
The ethics body “must be equipped with significant means of control and sanctions”, argued Raphaël Glucksmann (S&D, French).
The Greens/EFA and The Left have called for progress on this idea while the European Commission, initially reluctant (see EUROPE 12925/19), is now working on the development of such a body (see EUROPE 13083/2).
“We have a big majority in this house supporting the establishment of an ethics body but let’s not wait until the commission comes forward. Let’s already nominate our negotiators now so that the negotiations on the interinstitutional agreement can start as soon as possible”, said, for example, Terry Reintke (German), Co-President of the Greens/EFA.
An insufficient plan of measures?
For the president of The Left, Manon Aubry (French), the Parliament must start by implementing all the measures recommended in its resolution adopted almost unanimously in December (see EUROPE 13085/20), following a precise timetable.
She deplored the fact that “the Metsola plan discards 11 of the 15 proposals voted and adopted by our assembly in this resolution”, citing the setting up of a special committee to thoroughly reform the European Parliament, the obligation of the transparency register and an independent high authority (the ethics body).
On behalf of the S&D group, Mr Glucksmann also called for the transparency register to be made mandatory “for MEPs and their staff”. So did Ms Reintke.
Like The Left and the Greens/EFA, he also called for stronger whistleblower protection within the European Parliament.
Mr Séjourné, for his part, defended the establishment of an authority “capable of monitoring the application of the obligations linked to the transparency register”.
For EPP President Manfred Weber, the package of proposals lacks a point on the treatment of NGOs at EU level, given that the imprisoned former MEP Antonio Panzeri “used an NGO (Fight impunity - editor’s note) to hide his activities”.
“I have no doubt that 99% of NGOs are doing a great job, but we have a transparency problem with this one percent of NGOs”, the German MEP added.
Fast forward
The majority of political groups also called for swift action within a clear timeframe.
Gwendoline Delbos-Corfield (French), candidate of the Greens/EFA for the post of European Parliament vice-president vacant since the dismissal of Ms Kaili, regretted the lack of details in Ms Metsola’s proposals on how to implement these measures before the end of the mandate.
“If we vote on a resolution based on Metsola’s proposals, it will have no legal value”, she warned.
An institution plagued by a “culture of opacity”?
In their statements to the press or in plenary, many MEPs have denounced a structural lack of transparency in the Parliament, which allows abuses.
For Mr Glucksmann, this affair is above all the story of “democratic institutions that were unable and unwilling to defend themselves against the corrosive power of money”.
“The European Parliament must address the issue of integrity and transparency and put an end to the culture of opacity and impunity, which is too often the rule”, said Manon Aubry.
For Ms Delbos-Corfield, the main problem is that there is “a certain indulgence in the way public money is used” and the lack of a “culture of transparency” in Parliament.
On a more optimistic note, Mr Durand said that this affair “broke a lock, the one within the EPP, where there was an extremely strong culture (...) on transparency within the European Parliament, in the name of freedom of mandate”.
Revision of the Rules of Procedure
On Tuesday, MEPs also amended the Parliament’s rules of procedure so that it would be able to formally announce requests for the waiver of parliamentary immunity that it receives from the European Public Prosecutor’s Office, as is the case with Greek MEPs Eva Kaili (S&D) and Maria Spyráki (EPP) (see EUROPE 13098/31).
See Roberta Metsola’s proposals: https://aeur.eu/f/4ve
See the proposals of The Left: https://aeur.eu/f/4xp (Original version in French by Damien Genicot with the editorial staff)