Lobbying scandal triggers rule-changes for MEPs

Parliament seeks to stop OLAF investigation and Buzek wants strengthening of Parliamentary rules.

In the wake of the ‘cash-for-influence’ scandal a senior European Parliament panel is likely to consider drastic changes to rules of conduct for MEPs, including a ban on MEPs taking supplementary employment.

Click Here: pinko shop cheap

The Parliament’s bureau, a committee made up of the president and 14 vice-presidents, is expected to consider such reforms when it meets on Monday (4 April) in Strasbourg. Jerzy Buzek, the Parliament’s president, has already called for a strengthening of Parliamentary rules. Diana Wallis, a UK Liberal MEP and a vice-president of the Parliament with responsibility for transparency issues, is tipped to lead a special cross-party panel to work on proposals for reform after

Transparent rules

Wallis told European Voice that she would push for more transparent rules in the way MEPs conduct their work, but cautioned that reforms should be considered carefully.

“There needs to be a lot more clarity,” she said. A joint voluntary register for lobbyists envisaged by a draft agreement between the Parliament and the European Commission should be made mandatory, she suggested, to ensure that those who lobby MEPs face tougher disclosure requirements and sanctions if they break the rules. Wallis said that she would discuss possible changes to the register with Maroš Šefcovic, the European commissioner for inter-institutional affairs and administration, in the coming days.

Wallis also plans to push for a so-called legislative footprint on EU legislation that passes through the Parliament. This would disclose who spoke to MEPs about possible changes to reports, opinions and amendments. Declarations of MEPs’ financial interests will also need to be overhauled, Wallis said, with a more regular review by the Parliament to ensure that the register is kept up to date. She said MEPs who failed to file a full declaration should also face tougher penalties.

Other options being considered are the creation of a special ‘ethics committee’ to advise MEPs on possible conflicts of interest, and a limit to what second jobs MEPs should be allowed to do.

An internal Parliament investigation was launched on 21 March after the UK’s Sunday Times newspaper published allegations that three MEPs agreed to submit changes to EU legislation in exchange for fees of up to €100,000 a year offered by reporters posing as lobbyists.

Ernst Strasser, an Austrian centre-right MEP, and Zoran Thaler, a Slovenian centre-left MEP, have both resigned as a result of the allegations. A third, Adrian Severin, a Romanian centre-left MEP, denies any wrongdoing and has so far refused to step down, but was forced to quit the centre-left Socialists and Democrats (S&D) group in the Parliament.

In a follow-up report last Sunday (27 March), the newspaper also made less serious allegations against Pablo Zalba Bidegain, a Spanish MEP who denies the charges. His political group, the centre-right European People’s Party (EPP), said that Zalba had never agreed to take any monetary compensation for forwarding amendments requested by the reporters. The group has not asked for his resignation.

Ban on secondary jobs

Søren Bo Søndergaard, a Danish far-left MEP, said that the Parliament should impose a “total ban” on secondary jobs for MEPs to clear up any questions over conflicts of interest. It is uncertain, though, how many MEPs would support such a ban. Wallis sees a total ban as unrealistic, but believes that all jobs-on-the-side “should be declared”. MEPs with jobs that pose a conflict of interest should not be involved in those reports or in filing legislative changes directly affected, she said, but added: “This shouldn’t be a knee-jerk reaction. We need to do this in a careful way.”

The Parliament has already contacted national authorities in Romania, Slovenia and Austria to see whether they plan to start legal investigations into the allegations. Parliament officials have so far rejected an attempt by OLAF, the EU’s anti-fraud office, to start its own investigation into the allegations, claiming it is outside OLAF’s jurisdiction as it does not conduct criminal investigations.

The Parliament barred a team of four OLAF investigators on Tuesday (22 March) from carrying out an inspection of the offices of the three MEPs named in the first report.

OLAF said on Monday (28 March) that it had a right under the EU treaty, backed by an inter-institutional agreement between the Council of Ministers, the Commission and the Parliament, to conduct an investigation. OLAF that said it would continue “to pursue” the investigation, despite objections from the Parliament.