The European Parliament has called Thursday to exercise more control over the assets of MEPs and prohibit donations from third countries, after the scandal of the alleged bribery scheme to gain political and economic weight in Europe, which would have bought one of the vice presidents of the European Parliament, Eva Kaili, suspended Tuesday from office.
In a resolution adopted with 541 votes in favor, two against and three abstentions, MEPs noted their «dismay» at the alleged corruption, money laundering and involvement in a criminal organization of MEPs, former MEPs and staff of the European Parliament, and shows its full support for the ongoing criminal investigation.
It also proposes measures to improve the transparency of the institution. Among them, it calls for introducing more controls on the assets of parliamentarians with the obligation to submit a declaration of assets at the beginning and at the end of his mandate, so that the competent authorities can check whether the assets correspond to the declared income.
They also call for full transparency of MEPs’ parallel income and a ban on all external financing of MEPs’ and groups’ staff, and advocate a «Union-wide ban on donations from third countries to MEPs and political parties», urging the European Commission to submit a proposal to this effect as a matter of urgency.
Similarly, the resolution calls for extending the transparency register to former MEPs and representatives of third countries, and also proposes setting a period of incompatibility for former MEPs to tackle the phenomenon of ‘revolving doors’.
The text, agreed by the entire parliamentary arc, calls for the suspension of access to the European Parliament to Qatari representatives until the judicial investigation clarifies the alleged plot and that all work on legislative files related to Qatar, in particular in relation to visa liberalization and planned visits, be paralyzed.
