Strict new transparency guidelines will deprive MEPs of the right to break ranks from official EU policy while on overseas delegations, a draft parliamentary report suggests.
The recommendations were made by the European Parliament’s foreign interference subcommittee (ING2) primarily in response to the Qatargate scandal and the risk of potential Russian interference in next year’s European elections.
The European Parliament is scrambling to clarify regulations to limit the exposure of MEPs to foreign interference operations and to create a unified foreign policy for the block. The recommendations are seen as an instrument to target MEPs who stray from the pack.
The report proposes that MEPs “should not be allowed to espouse different positions to those adopted by Parliament” with officials who refuse to comply. Violators of the new rule will be barred from future missions.
The foreign interference committee specifically fingers Qatar, Russia, and Morocco as the primary foreign actors interfering in EU affairs. It makes specific mention of the Qatari government’s promotion of “radical ideology and extremist Islamic organisations,” and calls for an enhanced screening process for NGOs interacting with MEPs.
Additional recommendations include “substantial fines” and other penalties for MEPs who conduct their own unauthorised diplomatic missions abroad, contrary to EU foreign policy objectives and a new EU ethics body to regulate potential breaches.
The report, if fully adopted, would vastly reduce the ability of MEPs to voice dissent on foreign policy matters, leaving only the chair of official EU missions able to speak publicly on behalf of Parliament.
Speaking to The European Conservative, executive director of the policy think tank MCC Brussels, Professor Frank Furedi described the suggestions as having the potential for a “shocking overreach” and as a barrier for MEPs representing their constituents.
The report lends credence to fears that the EU will use post-Qatargate transparency regulations to enhance its power, using the recommendation to unify EU foreign policy and implement penalties against dissident MEPs.
Sympathetic statements and foreign delegations to Russia in particular have embarrassed the Parliament and have served as an obstacle to a common EU foreign policy.
The report also addresses future EU election observer missions, supporting a ban on unauthorised parliamentary delegations to monitor non-EU elections. A crucial part of the Parliament’s foreign policy platform, the policy is a response to MEPs travelling to Russian-occupied parts of Ukraine to lend credence to separatist referendums by acting as election monitors.
Qatari and Moroccan officials in the European Parliament have been hit with new lobbying restrictions in recent months, with the Qatargate revelations bringing to light an underground web of NGOs and covert intelligence agents bribing MEPs.
The EU is currently preparing a new “foreign agents law” to get ahead of unethical lobbying by outside actors. Overall, the report confirms pre-existing concerns that Eurofederalists would seek to turn crisis into opportunity in the face of the Qatargate crisis and clamp down on those who object to the bloc’s foreign policy decisions.
