2024-04-26 22:03:31
The European Parliament voted today in Strasbourg for the creation of a new body for ethical standards to fight corruption in the institutions of the European Union and to monitor compliance with the rules on lobbying and corruption, DPA reported.
The agreement was reached between the eight main EU institutions, each of which is yet to sign it. Until now, they have watched their affairs internally.
The parliament was prompted to act by the Qatar corruption scandal in December 2022. At the time, Belgian prosecutors investigated, along with other suspects, the Greek MEP Eva Kyli, who since the beginning of the same year was one of the 14 vice-presidents of the EU legislature.
The charges included corruption, money laundering and involvement in organized crime, as well as influence peddling involving the governments of Qatar and Morocco, BTA reported.
The new body will develop, update and interpret common minimum standards of ethical behavior and publish reports on how these standards are reflected in each of the individual institutions, the European Parliament said.
It will be able to conduct investigations and recommend sanctions, assisted by five independent experts.
“The fact that the new body can deal specifically with individual cases is a huge success in the negotiations. Today we are creating more transparency, laying the foundations for citizens’ greater trust in European democracy,” said rapporteur Daniel Freund.
Conservative members of parliament point to difficulties in the future functioning of the new body. According to Sven Simon of Germany’s Christian Democratic Union (CDU), the body will make its decisions based on moral rules that need explanation, rather than clear legal norms and standards.