European leaders tried yesterday to distance themselves from the bribery scandal that is shaking the European Parliament to prevent the reputational damage from contaminating the rest of the institutions and demanded an exemplary response from Strasbourg.
Its president, Roberta Metsola, promised "personally" to promote far-reaching reforms to prevent taking "a bag of money" from being worth it. The EU Prosecutor's Office, the last institution of the club, wanted to make it clear that it will not close its eyes and has requested the lifting of the immunity of two Greek MEPs, the socialist Eva Kaili, accused of Qatargate, and a EPP colleague Maria Spyraki on suspicions of fraud in the “use of parliamentary allowances”, especially the salaries of assistants. Although there are no precedents for a measure of this type, it is a field where many scandals have already been uncovered, such as the fictitious jobs of the National Front, but where much remains to be aired.
The political pressure increases so that the Eurocámara makes draft changes. Although there are no indications that other institutions are affected by the alleged corruption scheme orchestrated by Qatar and Morocco among the deputies, for the ordinary citizen it is very difficult to distinguish them and it is feared that the case negatively affects the confidence of public opinion in the EU in general.
"It is important that there be transparency and exemplary," claimed French President Emmanuel Macron, upon arrival at the last summit of the year. "You have to do things in order: know the facts, know who is involved and take the appropriate measures." "The credibility of our Union and our nations is at stake and we will ask that all the light be shed on what is happening," said Giorgia Meloni, the Italian prime minister, at her first European Council meeting. . “Faced with events like this, what matters most is the reaction. And the reaction must be firm, decisive, one must go to the end, without sparing anything”.
This is what President Metsola has promised to do, who yesterday conveyed the situation to the European leaders at the beginning of the Brussels summit and answered extensive questions from the press about the case. The Maltese politician, a member of the European People's Party, will present a plan to carry out "a profound reform" of the institution's ethical standards at the beginning of the year.
While the European leaders met in Brussels, the EP plenary voted a resolution in which it declared itself "devastated" by the revelations and decided to immediately suspend the processing of all dossiers related to Qatar (the visa pact such as, and a agreement on airlines, among others). However, the amendment proposed by Sira Rego and Manu Pineda (IU) to also alert Morocco's attempt to illegally influence the institution was rejected by a narrow margin of votes.
Metsola's plan to respond to the scandal contains different types of measures. Some will take time to apply but others can be taken very quickly, such as denying access to Qatar's diplomatic representatives until what happened is clarified or the prohibition of friendship groups with third countries, some alliances in the crosshairs of the transparency activists.
Contacts with third countries should be made through the "official representatives" of the EP, not other MEPs. The plan on which Metsola is working to regain public trust, to which this newspaper has had access, also provides for the creation of a mandatory transparency register where MEPs must declare all their meetings with representatives of non-EU countries. The president also wants to strengthen control over lobbies, verify the sources of financing of registered NGOs, prevent former MEPs from lobbying and better protect witnesses who want to safely report irregularities.
"I repeat it, there will be no impunity and we will not sweep it under the rug," he guaranteed. Metsola moves in a delicate balance. On the one hand, recognize the seriousness of the events and act. On the other, to defend the good work of the majority of the 705 MEPs. “In the end, we are talking about criminal corruption, about people who offer bags full of money and people who do not reject them.” But that should not "overshadow" the honest work of the majority.
