This European Parliament finalize the transparency plan strengthen surveillance, restore trust, and prevent a recurrence of a new scandal corruption like call Qatar gateEva Kaili’s dismissal from her post as Vice President of the Chamber shook the foundations of this institution. The focus is on 14 measures, which Roberta Metsola, president of the European Parliament, will present this Thursday to a conference of presidents that brings together the leaders of nine political groups. To compel Members of the European Parliament to announce all their meetingsreplacing the permanent permits granted to ex-MPs by other newspapers, as well as lobbyists and organizations attending hearings and other meetings; ban friendship groups with third countries or request more details in the Chamber members’ financial statements of interest.
According to the draft document prepared for the meeting and consulted by El Periódico de Catalunya of the Prensa Ibérica group, “starting point” for broader reform As promised by Metsola in December. “The events of the past month have led to the need to restore trust among the European citizens we represent. Citizens rightly demand responsibility and integrity,” the text says, proposing 14 measures that could be implemented “in the short term.” reorganize the institution’s transparency tools. And the first thing would be to include in the European Parliament’s arsenal a measure that makes revolving doors more difficult. Qatar gate– won’t be able to lobby in the institution.
The plan proposes a period of 12 months, but according to Transparency International this period should be equivalent to the time the MEP takes the “transitional diet” (5 to 24 months maximum) and one month. annual salary (gross 9,800 euros) worked as an MEP. The list also considers the possibility of introducing an “integrity page” on the European Parliament website. sanctions, gift statements, travel not covered by the chamber, meetings and transparency. In addition, registration with this registry should be a “mandatory” for anyone wishing to attend hearings and other events for lobbyists, NGOs, and other interest representatives, and the number of accreditations per organization may be limited.
Report all meetings
Another measure, which has been requested for a long time and is included in the document that will be examined by political groups, is the obligation to publish the meetings of all European Parliament Members with third parties related to Eurochamber and their easily accessible to the public. This is a requirement that currently only applies to parliamentary committee chairs, rapporteurs and shadow rapporteurs for reports. “This obligation can be extended to all members, all accredited deputies of parliament, members of political groups and members of the European Parliament,” the text states.
The plan also provides for the prohibition of friendship groups with third countries because these confusion with official activity third countries will have to interact directly with the foreign affairs committee, existing delegations for relations with third countries or other parliamentary committees. To strengthen control over who enters and exits the institution, the idea is to create a new entry record so that anyone wishing to access the European Parliament headquarters should report the time and day of entry as well as the purpose of entry.
Accreditation of Former Members of the European Parliament
Until now, former MEPs had the right to permanent accreditation, which allowed them to invite whoever they wanted to the headquarters of the European Parliament. After the scandal, the idea replace the permanent pass with the daily one and remove the power to invite third parties. Once the transition period is over, if they want to enter as lobbyists, they will have to register with the transparency registry and sign up each time they want to access it. The plan also seeks to tighten obligations on financial interests to avoid potential conflicts, and to provide more detail in statements of financial interests and parallel activities that many Members of the European Parliament have and can generate income from. According to Transparency International, the European Parliament should eliminate categories and introduce certain amounts to guarantee precision and full definition of the sector.
Finally, the plan also strengthen the code of conductTo make training compulsory for all parliamentary assistants in matters of whistleblowing, fiscal rules and whistleblowing, encouraging anti-corruption cooperation and reviewing the list of punishable activities. “The proposals are a big step in the right direction. They include some long-awaited reforms that we and others have been campaigning for for years. There is an emphasis on enforcement, something that has not been done so far” gave. “Parliament continues to rely entirely on the self-enforcement of rules” and “We know this is not working,” he warns.