On Thursday 14 March, the Conference of Presidents of the Political Groups (CoP) of the European Parliament approved the agreement reached by seven European Union institutions and bodies on the shape of the future European Ethics Body (see EUROPE 13370/7).
It has instructed Parliament’s Committee on Constitutional Affairs (AFCO) to prepare a specific draft report, which will be submitted to the plenary session at the end of April.
Parliament negotiator Daniel Freund (Greens/EFA, German) welcomed the setting up of the Ethics Body in the summer, which he believes will put an end to the “culture of impunity”, “the extreme excesses of which led to the ‘Qatargate’ corruption scandal”. In addition to drawing up common standards of ethics and integrity in public life, the independent experts on the Body will also be empowered, at the request of the participating EU institutions and bodies, to “examine individual cases”, he added.
As far as Parliament is concerned, the Body will be able to analyse MEPs’ declarations of interest, their meetings with lobbyists and invitations received from third parties. It will have to report on how the participating institutions and bodies have taken its recommendations into account.
German Social Democrat Katarina Barley, another Parliament negotiator, welcomed the step taken at the CoP on Thursday, criticising in passing the EPP Group’s constant attempts at obstruction, in a press release.
Speaking on behalf of the EPP Group, Germany’s Sven Simon called on the CoP to reject a “poorly drafted” agreement. “The new institution lacks any legal basis in the Treaties, making its decisions vulnerable to challenges in court”, he said. “Placing of the secretariat of the Body in the Commission’s domain turns the constitutional principle of separation of powers upside down and endangers the independence of the legislative in the EU”, he added, describing the future Body as a “disciplinary chamber for the legislative”. On Wednesday, the Member States’ ambassadors to the EU (Coreper) took stock of the ongoing negotiations. They reaffirmed the willingness of the Council of the EU to be a full member of the future European Body, even though the common standards it will draw up will not apply to Ministers representing their countries in European activities.
The Belgian Presidency of the EU Council has been mandated to continue informal discussions with the other parties to the agreement. Parliament has indicated that the text agreed on Tuesday could potentially change to “clarify” the EU Council’s participation between now and the AFCO Committee meeting on Wednesday 20 March. (Original version in French by Mathieu Bion)