Friends of the Earth Europe and Corporate Europe Observatory
ALTER-EU groups have complained to European Parliament (EP) President Schulz about the 'EP Former Members Association (FMA)' openly seeking corporate sponsorship for activities at the premises of the European Parliament, in clear violation of the Code of Conduct for (ex-)MEPs.
Friends of the Earth Europe (FoEE), SpinWatch, LobbyControl, Corporate Europe Observatory (CEO)
In a joint letter earlier this year, FoEE together with CEO, LobbyControl, and Spinwatch, raised specific concerns about the lack of transparency over the financial interests of MEP Jean-Luc Dehaene, and the related risk of a potential conflict of interest. On 4 October, 5 months after, Mr Dehaene updated his declaration.
On 9 August, the European Voice reported that Austrian authorities had charged a former MEP, Ernst Strasser, with corruption following the 2011 ‘cash-for-influence' scandal. The case of another MEP, Adrian Severin, who was incriminated in the same scandal, is even more worrying.
Prepared by Muriel Treibich
Contributions from Natacha Cingotti and Paul de Clerck
Edited by Francesca Gater, and Rachel Tansey
New ethics rules in the European Parliament are not strict enough to ensure complete transparency on MEPs’ outside interests, and therefore prevent potential conflicts of interest, shows the first analysis of declarations made under the new MEP code of conduct.
In 'One year after the scandal' MEP Geringer de Oedenberg (S&D) makes a case in favour of the exposed MEP Adrian Severin (ex-S&D). In so doing she not only does a disservice to the European Parliament, but also to citizens across Europe who expect their elected representatives to act in the public interest.