MEPs are ready to negotiate, by summer, the creation of a European ethics body that could initially only concern the European Commission and the European Parliament, according to a joint draft resolution of the EPP, S&D, Renew Europe, Greens/EFA and The Left Groups that they will adopt on Thursday 16 February.
According to the draft, a copy of which was given to EUROPE, they should ask the Commission to “come forward latest by March with its proposal to establish an independent ethics body for the European Parliament and the Commission, open to all institutions and agencies of the EU”, with the aim of “finalising negotiations by the end of the summer break about structure, governance, name, composition, powers” of the future body.
The day before, in a plenary debate, Commission Vice-President for Values Věra Jourová promised an initiative for March and considered that the body could involve all EU institutions and bodies referred to in Article 13 of the TEU (see EUROPE 13121/10).
Parliament’s aim is to prevent “procrastination” - especially by the EU Council - and “extreme politeness on the part of the Commission” from delaying the work, given that for the past year and a half the Commission has done almost nothing to deliver on its 2019 promise, a parliamentary source commented on Wednesday.
The motion for a resolution reiterates the competences that Parliament believes the European ethics body should have, namely the ability to investigate on its own initiative and make recommendations on specific cases involving politicians and staff of the Commission, Parliament and the other institutions and bodies involved in the initiative. These activities would take place during and after the end of a political mandate.
However, the ability to conduct investigations may be hampered by the lack of a legal basis specifically empowering the future body.
MEPs also want the European body to check the declarations of financial interests of persons holding positions of responsibility in the European institutions. They also recommend the creation of a “harmonised” post-mandate ‘cooling-off’ period between EU institutions in order to delay the revolving door of the personalities concerned wishing to enhance their address book.
Between now and the vote on Thursday, The Left Group could table an amendment to give the body the capacity to take autonomous decisions and not just make recommendations to the participating EU institutions and bodies.
See the joint motion for a resolution: https://aeur.eu/f/5bz (Original version in French by Mathieu Bion)