On the evening of Monday 12 June, the Parliament’s Bureau decided to tighten the rules governing the participation of interest group representatives in any event organised on European Parliament premises, requiring them to be entered in the European Transparency Register.
This rule, which will apply from Wednesday 12 July, will cover any event organised by the Parliament’s bodies, a political group and/or an MEP where a lobbyist participates as an active guest. It also includes any joint event organised by an MEP and an interest group.
This decision will result in around “12,000 additional events per year” being subject to stricter transparency rules, the Parliament stressed in a press release.
By the summer recess, Members’ webpages on the Parliament’s website will include an ‘integrity tab’ containing all relevant information, including sanctions.
In July, the Bureau will discuss increased protection for potential whistleblowers within the EU institution itself, another measure advocated in January by the President, Roberta Metsola (see EUROPE 13097/2). A decision on this point will depend on the discussions that have yet to take place with the Staff Committee, which is in the process of being renewed.
Ms Metsola would also like the July plenary to vote on a reform of the Parliament’s Rules of Procedure, designed to tighten up the rules relating to greater transparency of MEPs’ financial declarations and their meetings with representatives of third countries, an extension of the types of behaviour that may be penalised, and a strengthening of the powers of the internal advisory committee on ethical issues.
Also in July, MEPs will adopt the ‘Bilčík/Loiseau’ draft report, which lists a series of measures to preserve the integrity of the Parliament’s work (see EUROPE 13192/6).
To see the status of the measures recommended by Ms Metsola in response to the ‘Qatargate’ scandal of alleged corruption of MEPs by third countries, go to https://aeur.eu/f/7ft (Original version in French by Mathieu Bion)