The president of the European Parliament will seek Monday to get ahead of a graft scandal that has rocked the legislature, by officially unveiling a series of reforms to clean up the multinational assembly. This as the parliament holds its first plenary session of 2023 in Strasbourg.
Many MEPs and observers believe the changes to be presented by Roberta Metsola on Monday will not be enough to be able to restore credibility in the institution.
The parliament has been the focus of intense scrutiny since the scandal broke open a month ago with the arrest of one of Metsola's 14 vice-presidents after Belgian police raided homes and offices of several MEPs, former MEPs, parliamentary aides and heads of NGOs that dealt with lawmakers.
Belgian prosecutors are investigating alleged graft in the European Parliament benefitting Qatar and Morocco. The police raids turned up €1.5 million in cash.
Qatar has denied having any role in any wrongdoing in the case. Morocco says it is the target of unjustified "media attacks" over the allegations.
Qatar bribery scandal 'threatens credibility' of European parliament
Metsola's arrested vice-president Eva Kaili, a Greek MEP who has since lost that high parliamentary position, also has said through her lawyer that she knew nothing about cash found at her home.
Kaili remains in custody with three other suspects: Kaili's boyfriend Francesco Giorgi, who was a parliamentary aide; former MEP Pier Antonio Panzeri; and Niccolo Figa-Talamanca, head of the NGO "No Peace Without Justice", which is suspected of making payments to MEPs.
The three male suspects are all Italian. According to a report in Belgian daily Le Soir on 15 December, Giorgi has made a confession.
All four are charged in Belgium with "criminal organisation, corruption and money laundering". Greece and Italy have launched their own investigations.
Metsola has vowed to act swiftly to "strengthen integrity, independence and accountability" in the parliament. She has also said the graft scandal showed "European democracy is under attack".
On Monday, Metsola kicked off the parliament's first plenary session of 2023 in Strasbourg, eastern France, by formally announcing measures which have already been trailed.
These include restricting parliamentary access for former MEPs; registering outside individuals who lobby, meet or speak at the parliament; a public MEPs' registry of gifts and travel received; and punishment for breaches.
Yet legal experts and some senior MEPs have voiced scepticism that those steps go far enough.
'More serious' response needed
Alberto Alemanno, a professor of EU law at the French business school HEC, said he did not believe that "imposing these few rules would be sufficient to create a new political culture in the European Parliament".
"The scandal is much more serious than others for the credibility of the European Union," he told the French Press Agency AFP. "We could have expected a more serious, more structural response than in the past."
Among MEPs, the head of the centrist Renew grouping in the parliament, Stephane Sejourne, said the scandal showed the need to create an EU authority tasked with "transparency in public life at the European level".
Such an idea has been put forward by the European Commission in the past but never got off the ground.
A German Green MEP, Daniel Freund, said MEPs' assets should be publicly listed at the start and end of their mandates, and whistleblower protections should be bolstered.
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