Aware of the urgent need to achieve an internal reform of the European Parliament to respond vigorously to the ‘Qatargate’ scandal well before the European elections in June 2024, the President of the European Parliament, Roberta Metsola, has accompanied step by step - putting pressure on the negotiators and sometimes encountering resistance from her own political family - the work aimed at giving concrete form to the fourteen proposals for strengthening the Parliament’s ethics rules that she proposed in January (see EUROPE 13097/2).
“Today, all fourteen points are done!”, Ms Metsola told a number of journalists, including EUROPE, on Monday 17 July. She added: “I think we can be very proud of our response to a very difficult and unprecedented challenge. We promised that there would be no impunity, no ‘sweeping under the carpet’, no business as usual”. While acknowledging certain “vulnerabilities” in the Parliament’s rules, the President of the European Parliament considered that the reform on the table went “much further” than the rules in force in certain national parliaments.
Since the beginning of May, former MEPs have been banned from lobbying the Parliament for 6 months following the end of their mandate (see EUROPE 13164/26). The length of this ‘cooling-off’ period is the result of a compromise. Ms Metsola had initially proposed a period of 24 months in order to bring it into line with the maximum length of time during which an MEP would continue to receive transitional pay to help them find a new job.
Ms Metsola welcomed the fact that the Parliament was imposing a minimum duration for the first time, although she did not rule out the possibility of this measure being challenged before the Court of Justice of the European Union.
Other measures initiated by the President of the European Parliament, and already adopted, concern the obligation for interest groups to be entered into the European Transparency Register to take part in official Parliament events (see EUROPE 13200/26) and guidelines governing access to Parliament premises by former MEPs and representatives of third countries (see EUROPE 13161/9).
Ms Metsola also outlined the content of the draft report by Gabriele Bischoff (S&D, German), which strengthens the Parliament’s Rules of Procedure by incorporating new transparency obligations regarding meetings with third parties and remuneration received outside the mandate, avoiding conflicts of interest and sanctions in the event of infringements (see EUROPE 13220/28).
The report, which will be presented to the Committee on Constitutional Affairs (AFCO) on Tuesday 18 July with a view to a vote in the AFCO and plenary session in September, is the result of negotiations between the main political groups. Each amendment must be adopted by an absolute majority of MEPs, a provision that makes any reform more difficult.
Sanctions. The draft ‘Bischoff’ report broadens the range of punishable offences. It increases the level of pecuniary penalties and the period of exclusion from taxable parliamentary activities. But it will still be up to the President of the European Parliament to make the final decision.
“There is nothing more difficult than imposing sanctions”, said Ms Metsola in response to EUROPE. “But I have undertaken always to do so if the Parliament’s internal advisory committee recommends it, particularly in cases of harassment”. The procedure for activating the advisory committee will be “more robust”, with real “deadlines”, and “the sanctions imposed will be public” and accessible online, she stressed, indicating that she had drawn inspiration from the rules in force in the United Kingdom and Canada.
‘Side jobs’. The Parliament’s Rules of Procedure already prohibit MEPs from lobbying on behalf of an interest group during their term of office. The draft ‘Bischoff’ report does not extend this ban but increases the transparency requirements for remuneration in excess of €5,000 per annum.
Ms Metsola spoke of the need to find “a balance” on an issue that was not covered by her first fourteen proposals, but was taken up in two European Parliament resolutions post ‘Qatargate’ (see EUROPE 13222/1). “If you earn something, you have to declare it, explain why you are earning it and justify that you can continue to do so”, said Ms Metsola. “But we could not prevent a doctor or university professor from continuing to practise their profession, nor deprive certain parliamentary committees, such as the Agriculture Committee, of the expertise of MEPs who had worked in a related profession”.
Members of the AFCO Committee have until Thursday 20 July to table their amendments to the draft report.
Last Thursday, Gwendoline Delbos-Corfield (Greens/EFA, French) told EUROPE that her group intended to try to improve the text, in particular by trying to give the advisory committee more “investigative powers” and by ensuring that sanctions are applied. “There have already been 26 cases submitted to the committee, but there is no transparency”, she noted.
In her view, there will be no extension of the post-employment waiting period for MEPs, no extension of the ban on remunerated activities outside the mandate, and no ban on travel paid for by third parties.
To see the status of the measures recommended by Ms Metsola in response to the ‘Qatarargate’ scandal, go to https://aeur.eu/f/83s (Original version in French by Mathieu Bion)