All groups to the right of the political spectrum in the European Parliament have rejected an agreement to set up an ethics body whose proclaimed goal is to “strengthen integrity, transparency, and accountability in European decision-making.”
The agreement, supported by all the left-wing groups, was rejected by the centre-right EPP, the conservative ECR, and the right-wing Identity and Democracy (ID) groups. They argue that the new institution lacks any legal basis in the EU treaties, making its decisions vulnerable to challenges in court and having the potential to be politically abused to target members of parliament. So-called “independent experts,” placed under the supervision of the left-leaning, politically biassed Commission, would have the power to examine individual cases and declarations of interest.
“The supposed ethics body, as a result of this agreement, has morphed into an investigative and restrictive disciplinary chamber. It carries a high risk for political misuse, has no legal basis, and infringes upon the rule of law,” the ECR said in a statement.
German EPP MEP Sven Simon told Monday’s committee meeting:
The body will individually investigate MEPs on slippery ethics, moral definition, that has the potential for political abuse. … Suspicions are published even in cases of no wrongdoing, leading to a trial by public opinion. In contrast to established due process, a group of non-parliamentarians will have the power to politically, albeit not legally, sanction MEPs.
Placing the secretariat for an investigative agency within the Commission risks creating a de facto disciplinary chamber for the legislative. This turns the constitutional principle of separation of powers upside down and endangers the independence of the legislative. Given current debates of the rule of law in some member states, this sets a dangerous precedent for weakening parliaments throughout the union.
MEPs in the EP’s constitutional affairs committee endorsed the deal on Monday, April 22nd, with 15 votes in favour and 12 against. The deal will be put to a vote in the Parliament’s plenary on Thursday.
The idea of having an ethics body was conceived a few years ago, but lawmakers’ plans to establish it were accelerated by lawmakers after the Qatargate scandal.
In December 2022, high-level MEPs, lobbyists, and their families were accused of accepting bribes from the Qatari and Moroccan governments in exchange for influencing parliamentary legislation. Most of the suspects involved are socialist lawmakers. The highest-ranking EU official is Greek MEP Eva Kaili, former vice president of the European Parliament, who was arrested on charges of participation in a criminal organisation, corruption, and money laundering.
In the aftermath of the scandal the European Parliament backed the tightening of rules on lobbying, the acceptance of gifts, and interactions with third-party countries.
As a next step, an agreement was reached between the Parliament and seven other EU institutions, including the Commission, the Council, and the Court of Justice, to jointly create and control an ethics body in order to have “common minimum standards for ethical conduct.”
In a statement sent to The European Conservative, the Hungarian conservative Fidesz party’s European Parliament delegation stressed that Qatargate is the most serious corruption scandal in the history of European integration, and those involved “committed crimes, not violated some sort of ethical standards.” It is therefore hard to understand what the newly endorsed agreement means by ethical standards. Fidesz goes on to state:
The Brussels corruption cases are about criminal law and not ethical issues, so compliance with ethical requirements should not be investigated. To date, no substantive response has been given by the European Parliament regarding systemic corruption in the institution. The undefined concept of ethical offences does not serve to detect crimes, but instead gives the Left a new blackmail tool motivated by party politics. The stakes of the European Parliament elections in June are to finally eliminate corruption in Brussels.
