As a corruption scandal rocks the European Parliament, lawmakers and campaign groups say a lack of asset declarations, little reporting on contacts with third countries and barely any sanctions created an environment where rule-breaking could go undetected
"Many in parliament think of themselves as untouchables, who think the ordinary rules do not apply to them," said Michiel van Hulten, director of the Brussels office of Transparency International.accepted bribes from recent soccer World Cup host Qatar in a bid to influence European Union policymaking.
But since the case came to light, campaign groups and parties have stepped up calls for a series of reforms to draw up clearer rules on conduct for those working in EU institutions and to restore trust. The gifts registers, comprising notifications MEPs are obliged to make of items they have received in an official capacity, list items such as a phone from Bahrain, jewellery from Azerbaijan and perfume from Qatar, but they are otherwise short.
They also urged the European Commission to put forward a proposal for an independent ethics body as soon as possible. "It's been a bit forgotten in the past years because we've had a crisis, of health and economy. We need to restart a future term at least with transparency and clarity of what we expect from MEPs or administration chiefs at the Commission or European commissioners to avoid this kind of incident."
For now, codes of conduct violations are handled by a panel of five MEPs. Freund said that reports on members' conduct over the past decade show some 25 breaches but only one occasion, very recently, when a fine was imposed."MEPs are not great at pursuing their peers," he said.
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