The President of the European Parliament publishes a list of gifts
STRASBOURG, France: European Parliament President Roberta Metsola has revealed the many gifts she has received on behalf of the institution over the past year as the scandal-hit institution seeks to rebuild its credibility.
The European Union assembly has been rocked by a corruption scandal that erupted last month involving MPs who allegedly accepted cash bribes to defend the interests of Morocco and Qatar.
Metsola promised more transparency and accountability, and this week pledged to impose new rules to tackle foreign corruption.
Among Metsola’s long list of gifts published on the parliament’s website are a cured sausage, champagne, a scarf, books, chocolates and a blue statuette of a sheep.
The donations were recorded in a public document published on January 12, 2023.
However, the rules of procedure stipulate that elected officials must declare donations before the end of the month following that in which they received them.
“There are no ‘undeclared donations’. All donations made to the institution have been declared internally and are kept by the institution, not by the president,” the doorman told AFP. -speaker of parliament, Jaume Duch.
“The unprecedented transparency on the public declaration of institutional donations initiated by President Metsola aims to improve the existing practice on these institutional donations.”
Alberto Alemanno, professor of European law at HEC Paris Business School, said on Twitter: “The President of the European Parliament, being the sole executor of the rules of ethics in the current system, must be exemplary in her conduct.
“Yet another story showing a pattern of misconduct that renders her culturally and politically unfit to fix Qatargate,” he added.
Nicholas Aiossa, from the NGO Transparency International, welcomed moves by Metsola and other elected members to reveal the gifts and trips, but said they “speak about a broken system”.
“The problem is that there are rarely penalties for breaking the rules,” he told AFP.
“We need written ethical rules, not based on tradition.”
Among those implicated in the corruption scandal is Greek Socialist MEP Eva Kaili, who was one of Metsola’s vice presidents at the time of her arrest in December.
Measures announced by Metsola on Monday include restricting access to parliament for former MEPs; record outsiders lobbying, meeting or speaking in parliament; a public register of gifts and trips received by MPs; and penalties for breaches.