European Parliament in Brussels
Photo: Mark Renders/ Getty Images
Transparency International (TI) has sharply criticized the European Parliament's reaction to the corruption scandal.
Nick Aiossa, deputy director of the organization, described the planned reforms as inadequate in a hearing before MPs and lamented a "culture of impunity" for violations of transparency and ethics rules.
The background is the scandal surrounding allegedly bribed parliamentarians, suitcases full of cash and manipulated committee meetings, which began in December last year with the arrest of the then Vice President of Parliament Eva Kaili.
Aiossa, a former member of the European Parliament himself, spoke Thursday at the meeting of a special committee on foreign interference in the EU's democratic processes, set up before the scandal.
Aiossa's ten-minute speech turned into a general reckoning with the situation in the European Parliament.
"Culture of Impunity"
"It's not a lobbying scandal, it's a corruption and bribery scandal," Aiossa said.
"The answer of the European Parliament should correspond to that." But that is not the case.
The 14-point plan for reforms recently presented by Parliament President Roberta Metsola is a step in the right direction, but does not go far enough.
Whistleblowers are still insufficiently protected against disadvantages if they draw attention to abuses.
The protective mechanisms of the EU Parliament are not only worse than those in the Council of Member States and the EU Commission.
"You are among the weakest in the entire EU," said Aiossa.
Parliament can introduce better mechanisms itself at any time without requiring the consent of the Council or the Commission.
The biggest problem, however, is the behavior of the MPs themselves. The already weak ethics rules are hardly followed, also because violations are hardly ever punished.
This is probably also due to the fact that punishments have to be imposed by President Metsola, which apparently also does not happen “for political reasons”.
There is also no independent supervision of compliance with the rules of ethics.
The result is a "culture of impunity," Aiossa said.
How little the rules have been followed so far can also be seen from the fact that after the corruption scandal began, various MPs suddenly reported trips and gifts.
This culture will hardly disappear "as long as there is no sanctions regime with a deterrent effect".
Metsola also recently made more than a hundred gifts and five trips public afterwards.
When it comes to fighting fraud, protecting whistleblowers and the rule of law in EU countries, "you have always been one of our biggest supporters and advocates," Aiossa told MEPs.
"Unfortunately, you were one of our greatest opponents when it came to imposing these standards on yourself."
Not everyone in the EU Parliament sees the need for stricter rules - not even in Metsola's own party family, the Christian Democratic European People's Party.
Angelika Niebler, for example, co-chair of the CDU/CSU group, said recently that she saw "no great need to catch up" with the rules.
She also does not know of any parliament that is as transparent as the European one.
Stricter rules would not have prevented the scandal, said the CSU politician.
Raphaël Glucksmann, chairman of the special committee on foreign influence, sounded almost resigned at Thursday's meeting.
For more than two years, the committee has been warning of the "systemic deficits" in protecting against the influence of "extremely wealthy autocratic regimes" - apparently without success.
Foreign influence can take many forms, the French social democrat said.
"This time it was suitcases full of money."
The corruption scandal is likely to keep Parliament busy over the coming weeks.
According to the public prosecutor's office, the Italian ex-MP Pier Antonio Panzeri, alleged head of the corruption network, has accepted a leniency program and announced a comprehensive statement in exchange for a reduced sentence.
According to Eva Kaili's lawyer Michalis Dimitrakopoulos, Panzeri will soon incriminate MPs from France, Belgium and Italy - and for the first time some from Germany.