MEP Radosław Sikorski (EPP, PO) is third on the list of parliamentarians traveling abroad funded by organizations or other countries, according to an article in the Belgian daily “Le Soir”. German Reinhard Buetikofer (Greens) took first place in the EP with 705 MEPs, and Frenchman Thierry Mariani (Identity and Democracy) came second.
MEPs are required to declare all travel that has been fully or partially funded by organizations or other countries. Since the outbreak of the Katargate corruption scandal, the media has covered several trips by MEPs who, as Le Soir points out, “forgot” to report them in time. An example was the stay in Qatar of the Belgian socialist and democratic MEPs Marc Tarabella and Maria Arena, or the stay in Israel of the President of the European Parliament Roberta Metsola.
Following these reports, “Le Soir” decided to analyze the statements published by 705 MEPs on the EP’s official website during the current parliamentary term. Journalists analyzed destinations, organizations inviting MEPs, travel dates, deadlines for submitting declarations, number of nights, means of transport or travel reasons.
The list shows that MEPs went most often to India (30 declared trips), Israel (30), United Arab Emirates (16), Russia (13) and Venezuela (5) during this legislature.
Leader from Germany
The leader of foreign travel is Reinhard Buetikofer, a German MEP of the Greens group, with 47 hotel nights in 22 trips abroad. In second place is French MEP Thierry Mariani (Identity and Democracy) with 28 nights over eight trips.
In third place was Polish MEP Radosław Sikorski (EPP, PO). During the current parliamentary term, the EP has had 27 overnight stays on 14 trips abroad.
In total, MEPs have declared 328 trips abroad during the current legislature, of which 89 have passed the mandatory time limit.
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mly/PAP
Source: wPolityce