EU Parliament once again raises ethics reform as Russia’s cash-for-influence scandal unfolds

Ahead of June’s EU election in two months, the European Parliament has gone into alert mode as pressure grows for a response to a new cash-for-influence scandal rocking the institution, with new reforms back on the table. 

Last week, Czech authorities uncovered what it said to be a pro-Russian influence operation in Europe involving the news website Voice of Europe.

It was alleged the website paid – so far unnamed – European politicians to spread propaganda, possibly including Members of the European Parliament (MEPs), according to Belgian Prime Minister Alexander De Croo. 

Czech and German media reported that Petr Bystron, number two in the far-right German AfD party for the EU elections and current member of the German Bundestag, is also implicated in the scandal.

After Qatargate in 2022, the Parliament initiated reforms to improve transparency and is finishing negotiations on a brand new EU ethics body.

And, in the wake of the scandal last week, parliamentary groups were quick to call for a plenary debate and resolution on the topic.

But the liberal Renew Europe group wants more and is calling for stricter security clearance processes and reinforced screening of staffers, especially for those attending sensitive meetings. 

Stricter scrutiny of the organization of events in the Parliament, the invitation of external guests to Parliament, and access to Parliament’s communication platforms are among the suggestions put forward in amendments, to a report on the discharges of the EU’s budget – a report often used to raise political issues.

“The idea is to emphasise that we need the European Parliament and all EU institutions to have adequate resources to safeguard the information against manipulation campaigns ahead of the elections, and flag our concerns on the foreign interference and disinformation campaign,” a Renew spokesperson told Euractiv. 

The Parliament already obliges legal and ethical requirements, proposes training courses, and security clearance for those handling classified information.

Renew expects strong support from other political groups, with at least a majority to pass the text. 

Re-emphasising the Parliament’s high state of alert, Parliament President Roberta Metsola said “We are not afraid, we know how to work together to stop them,” at an event on Wednesday (3 April).

“There are just over 60 days left until the European elections. We know what is at stake and so do those actors who will go, I don’t know how far, to try to disrupt our democratic process,” she added.

It is difficult to expect the Parliament’s president to present further reforms before the elections in two months, as the schedule would be tight. 

But MEPs are very concerned and are willing to act.

“This is a new level of threat,” Brando Benifei, head of the delegation of the Italian socialists (Partito Democratico), told Euractiv.

He highlighted that the scandal has revealed how foreign actors can systematically affect European democracy. 

“We need to be very careful now to understand very well what happened and to take the necessary decisions,” he warned.

Is the post-Qatargate reform enough?

According to Nick Aiossa, Director at Transparency International EU, this scandal “could be more serious than Qatargate,” adding that it should “bring about real reforms to stamp out this culture of impunity.”

In 2022, a cash-for-influence scandal involving Qatar and Morocco brought about a set of internal reforms to tighten the Parliament’s transparency rules, as well as the creation of an EU Ethics body. 

But these have been widely criticised by stakeholders and MEPs themselves for being toothless.

The measures “that would prevent a future scandal were not addressed because we still have a lack of monitoring and enforcement,” Shari Hinds, policy officer for EU Political Integrity at Transparency International EU told Euractiv.

The EU ethics body will not have investigative or sanctioning powers, according to Hinds.

She added, “When you have a system where you know that there is a strong independent oversight and monitoring of the activities and also deterrent sanctions when something is breached, then you develop a culture of integrity, where this kind of practice does not happen.”

[Edited by Rajnish Singh]

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