On Monday 17 April in Strasbourg, the European Parliament’s Bureau formally adopted a reform, politically agreed in March, of the rules governing the activities of MEPs after they leave office (see EUROPE 13141/23).
From the beginning of May, MEPs whose term of office has ended will not be allowed to lobby the European Parliament for a “cooling-off period” of six months. At the end of this period, in order to carry out new lobbying activities, they will have to register with the EU Transparency Register and obtain a specific permanent access badge. They will therefore no longer enjoy the same rights of access to the European Parliament premises as former MEPs who have not become lobbyists. If they break the new rules, the President of the Parliament, Roberta Metsola, may ban them from the European Parliament.
To ensure legal certainty, on Monday the Bureau also discussed a codification of the general rules on access to Parliament’s premises. People of legal age visiting the European Parliament, with the exception of journalists and officials from other EU institutions, will have to fill in a specific form to identify themselves and the reason for their visit.
Former MEPs and their staff who no longer work at the Parliament will no longer enjoy unlimited access to the EU institution, as they will have to identify themselves to obtain a daily access badge.
In the coming weeks, the Bureau will discuss other reform provisions put forward by Ms Metsola in early 2023 in response to the scandal of alleged corruption of MEPs by third countries (see EUROPE 13097/2), such as the participation of interest group representatives in official European Parliament events and the revision of internal rules governing whistleblowers.
The European Parliament will organise campaigns to inform MEPs and their staff about their new obligations.
See the 14 elements of reform as suggested in January by Metsola: https://aeur.eu/f/5rd (Original version in French by Mathieu Bion)