European Ombudsman Emily O’Reilly has questioned the willingness of the European Parliament to address ethical weaknesses brought up by the cash-for-influence Qatargate scandal.
Ahead of the European elections next year, the Parliament must show it is doing everything in its power to protect its integrity and credibility among European Union citizens and the wider world, O’Reilly said.
European institutions have thus far chosen to stick with self-regulation, leading to some calling ongoing reforms a “toothless bulldog”.
O’Reilly said she remained concerned about how tighter EU ethics regulations will be applied and enforced by bodies such as the Parliament and Commission.
How will the proposed EU “ethics committee” deal with information relating to any proven or alleged wrongdoing, she asked?
“The new stronger ethics rules are a good starting point but the rules are only as good as their implementation and enforcement,” O’Reilly said.
“My aim is to encourage the Parliament to continue the process of reform needed to ensure a strong ethical culture and an enforcement regime worthy of citizens’ trust.
“The Qatargate scandal undermined the reputation of the European Parliament in the eyes of many EU citizens. Ahead of the European elections next year, the Parliament must now show that it is doing everything in its power to protect its integrity and credibility,” she said.
In September, O’Reilly said the EU had only introduced “cosmetic changes” in its fight against corruption.
Several Socialist MEPs are accused of taking money from countries including Qatar and Morocco in exchange for favourable votes in Parliament.
O’Reilly said citizens needed to be able to have faith in the self-regulation model’s ability to function effectively.
She praised the approved changes, which include a more thorough definition of “conflict of interest” and a requirement for Member States to disclose any meetings their officials may have with diplomats or registered lobbyists from non-EU nations.
She did add, though, that she had remaining doubts.
It is unclear how the Parliament will oversee and implement the new regulations, which include requiring MEPs to register meetings with lobbyists and providing a post-mandate cooling-off period.
While the committee overseeing MEPs’ adherence to the Code of Conduct has been given a more proactive role there are still some details left unclear, such as how the committee will receive and respond to “signals” of suspected misconduct by MEPs.
The Ombudsman also criticised what she called a lack of transparency in the reform process itself, specifically concerning decisions that establish guidelines for the Parliament.
In future, she said, such internal decisions should be fully transparent to the public.
“My aim is to encourage the Parliament to continue the process of reform needed to ensure a strong ethical culture and an enforcement regime worthy of citizens’ trust,” said the Ombudsman.
According to O’Reilly, there has until now been a “lack of any shared political appetite for the kind of robust ethics regime that many citizens would have imagined was implicitly and explicitly proposed by Commission President von der Leyen”.
[PRESS RELEASE] While we acknowledge significant progress by @Europarl_EN in strengthening its ethics rules following #Qatargate, concerns remain about their implementation and enforcement.
📌 https://t.co/55h268Jqpm pic.twitter.com/wAT2FOVFLu
— European Ombudsman (@EUombudsman) December 11, 2023
