Do you remember Qatargate?
The Qatargate was that scandal that ironically broke out on the annual Anti-Corruption Day in 2022 with the search by Belgian authorities of the homes of various personalities linked to the European Parliament, including then-vice-president of the institution, Eva Kaili, in search of more than one million euros in cash that even appeared inside suitcases. The scandal generated a lot of noise, but also many promises. Especially from the European Parliament, which assured that it would clean house. What has become of those promises? I'll let you guess the answer.
this March a European anti-corruption directive was approved This April 29, that is, three and a half years after the scandal, MEPs voted on a resolution calling for the "new" EU ethical body to start operating at once. Well, the amendment in question does not say "at once", but it does say that Parliament must cooperate "without further delay". The entity was created in 2024, but it has not yet met once, nor does it have a budget. Furthermore, it was born with its wings clipped: without the capacity for investigation or sanction and made up of members of the same institutions that need to be supervised.
The reminder comes just after various journalistic investigations have pointed to new possible embezzlements of public money within the European Parliament. On the one hand, Politico published this week that all parties except the European Greens and the European Democratic Party misused funds worth 1.5 million euros in 2024. On the other hand, Follow The Money has revealed that the European People's Party (EPP) has hired two external consultants for half a million euros in six months, to do work that, according to sources from the party itself, had provided little value.
Obstacles from the right
And if this ethical supervisor has not yet started to walk, it is precisely partly because the European right is putting obstacles in its way under the pretext of protecting the institution's independence or bureaucratic costs. In fact, if the amendment went ahead in April, it is because the vote was anonymous. So far, the EPP has voted against various measures to improve transparency.
It is in this context of ethical paralysis that the distance between the institution and the citizens becomes dangerous. How to convince citizens that the European project is worthwhile, if your own internal management is more reminiscent of a private club where its members protect each other? It is difficult not to fall into cynicism. But let's not fool ourselves, if the answer were as simple as a chainsaw, we would have sorted everything out a long time ago.
The solution is not to dismantle institutions, but to open them up: a truly independent ethics body is needed, with external experts and no political ties. We have more than we had before Qatargate, but much less than what is needed to ensure that the Brussels bubble is more ethical, transparent, and consequently, fair, close, and useful for citizens.