EU Parliament head proposes 14-point anti-corruption plan in response to Qatargate scandal

After the scandal over alleged Qatari and Morrocoo influence peddling, the European Parliament will disclose measures to clamp down on corruption.

On Thursday, Roberta Metsola, President of the European Parliament, presented an anti-corruption package with 14 measures to prevent the repetition of a bribery scam like the one that put vice-President Eva Kaili behind bars.

A key proposal was a cooling-off period for former MEPs when they must not take up any immediate lobbying jobs. She also focused on the ban on friendship groups, used as a backdoor entry into lobbying the European Parliament via friendly MEPs by foreign states.

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Romanian MEP Cristian Silviu Busoi chaired the EU-Qatar friendship group. However, the group was inoperative between 2019 to 2021, given that Busoi took up the chairmanship of the European Parliament's Committee on Industry, Research and Energy. His office has denied all bribery allegations against Busoi during his years as the chairman.

Liberal Spanish MEP and Busoi's successor, José Ramón Bauzá Díaz, claimed that there were no officials events of give and take in the name of friendship groups. However, he suspended the EU-Qatar friendship group on December 12, 2022.

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Furthermore, Metsola's strategy involves strengthening the policies for lobby meetings publications, obliging all MEPs to follow when planned meetings link to European Parliament decisions. She demanded more transparency from the MEPs, especially about income and financial assets.

Van Hulten, Director of Transparency International of the EU, said, "These proposals are a big step in the right direction. They contain some long overdue reforms we and others have been campaigning for many years." But he has also cited certain drawbacks.

"The Parliament continues to rely entirely on self-enforcement of the rules. We know that doesn't work," he said. So far, the self-policing committee consisting of five MEPs, known as the Advisory Committee on the Conduct of Members, has taken no strict action. An independent third perspective would be a better solution for monitoring corruption, according to Van Hulten.

(With inputs from agencies)

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