Tags : European Parliament, corruption, Qatargate, Marocgate, lobbying,
The ban on former MEPs from lobbying Parliament for a period of six months from the end of their mandate will come into force on 1 May.
The Bureau of the European Parliament decided on Monday to ban former MEPs from lobbying the Parliament for a period of six months from the end of their mandate, in a first measure in response to “Qatargate”.
“Following the endorsement by Parliament’s political group leaders of the reform plan proposed by (Parliament) President Roberta Metsola, the Bureau adopted the first implementing decision revising the rules applicable to former Members of Parliament European,” the institution said in a statement.
This decision, which will come into force on May 1, modifies the current rules, dating from 1999, on the prerogatives granted to former MEPs, following the alleged corruption scandal known as “Qatargate”, which broke out last December and shook the European Parliament.
Several MEPs have been charged in this case, as well as the former Italian MEP Antonio Panzeri, who became head of an NGO, who admitted “having been one of the leaders of a criminal organization (…) in link with Qatar and Morocco.
The scandal led the Speaker of Parliament, Roberta Metsola, to announce reforms. The first decision adopted on Monday introduces a six-month ‘cooling-off period’ during which former MPs are barred from lobbying in parliament.
“After this period, if former MEPs decide to carry out lobbying or representation activities with the European Parliament, they must register in the transparency register. Consequently, they will not benefit from the access rights and facilities granted to them as former members.
Parliament specifies that other measures will be examined in the coming weeks, ‘such as the participation of interest representatives in events organized in Parliament’, and that ‘at the same time, the implementation of a number of measures requiring amendments to Parliament’s Rules of Procedure are in progress’.
#Qatargate #Marocgate #Maroc #European_parliament #Corruption
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