As the purported bribery scandal known as "Qatargate" rocks the European Parliament, FRANCE 24 speaks to prominent MEP Daniel Freund, who, until 2019, led Transparency International's work on the integrity of the EU institutions. He then took up his mandate as an EU parliamentarian for the Group of the Greens. Freund argues that the Parliament needs an independent body to provide oversight, because precedent shows that "self-control does not work". His remarks come amid revelations that Qatar allegedly bribed EU lawmakers in a bid to influence policy – something the Emirate, which is currently hosting the FIFA World Cup, strenuously denies.
Taking a broad view of the scandal, Freund says: "If the allegations turn out to be true, then this is the biggest scandal we've ever seen in the European Parliament. The amounts of money that are involved; the blatant, aggressive way of seeking to buy influence in the Parliament; this is something we haven't seen on this scale."
Turning to the question of how to strengthen existing transparency rules, and whether an independent ethics regulator is needed, the MEP says: "We have seen that self-control of the EU institutions doesn't work. Here in the Parliament we have had over 25 violations of our code of conduct, the behavioural rules for Members of Parliament, in the last few years, and there hasn’t been a sanction. And we have also seen a similar problem in the European Commission. I have suggested to Parliament that we should have an independent body that checks on the rules, which are actually quite good."
He continued: "Whenever I meet a lobbyist, it’s on the internet, and you can see it. Unfortunately, countries like Qatar, for now, are exempt from any of these good transparency rules. But we also need independent oversight of those existing rules. I got a huge majority for that in Parliament last year, and since then we have been waiting for the EU Commission to finally come forward now with a proposal."
The MEP admits, though, that in the case of some meetings, identities do need to be protected. "If you meet human rights defenders, say from Iran, and if their names appear in a public register, then they would get into trouble back home. Of course it’s legitimate to exempt those meetings from a public register."
Produced by Perrine Desplats, Sophie Samaille and Isabelle Romero
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