Commission President von der Leyen in front of the EU Parliament in Strasbourg
Photo: Michael Kappeler / DPA
When it became known in the spring that members of the Union had made a huge profit when buying corona masks from the state, Armin Laschet presented himself as a merciless tidier.
The affair had "brought the barrel to overflow", his confidants let the Germans know.
Now "clarity and tough crackdown" are the order of the day.
Half a year later, Laschet's party friends in the European Parliament are more likely to be wishy-washy.
When the MEPs vote in Strasbourg today on a new ethics authority to control lobbying, the Union politicians in the European People's Party (EPP) will abstain.
"The CDU and CSU do not seem to know what lessons to learn from the latest affairs," says the Green MEP Daniel Freund.
His group wants to help the project together with social democrats, liberals and leftists to achieve a majority.
EU rules are not always applied consistently
Even Commission President Ursula von der Leyen (CDU) and EPP parliamentary group leader Manfred Weber (CSU) spoke out in favor of the new supervisory body. The EU has given itself strict rules against illegal lobbying or questionable sideline and follow-up jobs. However, the regulations are not always applied consistently because the EU Commission has a great deal of discretion and MPs have to judge MPs.
In recent years, for example, the EU Parliament has identified numerous violations of the regulations, but never imposed sanctions.
And although EU commissioners are supposed to take a two-year "cool-down" phase after their service before they switch to business, the German EU representative Günther Oettinger was allowed to sell his contacts and findings without hesitation - for example for the London consultancy Deloitte or the Swabian tunnel builder Herrenknecht.
more on the subject
Questions about measurements and marriage for everyone: Laschet reacts snuggly to child reporters
Corona mask affair: Ex-CDU member Nikolas Löbel is allowed to keep the commission
Dozens of late registrations: That's how much MPs earn on the side by Marcel Pauly
Bundestag reacts to mask affair: bribery of MPs is to be considered a crime in the future
If the majority in the EU Parliament has its way, a new independent supervisory body should now control the rules.
On behalf of the Parliament, the Commission and EU institutions such as the European Court of Justice, nine experts are to investigate whether the MPs adhere to the lobbying rules or whether the jobs of EU officials lead to conflicts of interest.
"We no longer want to watch von der Leyen pretend that she decides completely impartially about the political compatibility of the private-sector activities of her fellow party member Oettinger," says the liberal MEP Moritz Körner.
The EPP parliamentarians, on the other hand, fear that an all-powerful bureaucracy will emerge in Brussels to sniff out and nag the parliament. The new authority would be granted "far-reaching possibilities to intervene in the personal rights of members of parliament without the need for judicial decisions and the lifting of parliamentary immunity," criticizes CDU parliamentarian Sven Simon. This leads to "political abuse risks" and "a weakening of parliamentarism".
In contrast, Greens budget expert Freund believes that Europe's representatives are more likely to be strengthened if lobbyism and conflicts of interest are controlled more consistently.
He points out that the new Expert Council should only make recommendations.
In the end, the decisions on sanctions or conditions are always made by the Commission or Parliament.
"That only makes European democracy more credible," says the MEP.
In any case, the indecisive stance of the Union in the European Parliament is no help in the election campaign for Laschet.
“This is how you have to do it,” says a former CDU politician in Brussels, “if you want to help your political opponent score points”.