Dear readers,
Welcome to EU Politics Decoded where Benjamin Fox and Eleonora Vasques bring you a round-up of the latest political news in Europe and beyond every Thursday.
In this edition, we look at how Qatargate has revealed the importance of the European Parliament’s positions on human rights abuses and civil society in third countries and the grey areas of foreign lobbying.
Editor’s Take: Lessons from forgotten Thursdays
Most MEPs and officials regard the so-called ‘urgencies’ and human rights debates and resolutions, which have no legal standing, as a waste of time.
In previous years, these debates and votes used to be held in the graveyard slot of Thursday afternoon in Strasbourg in a near-empty plenary chamber, since most MEPs head for home or their constituencies after lunch on Thursday.
Even debates on Tuesday afternoons have had the same fate. A video circulating on Twitter shows the empty hemicycle during a debate on Qatargate on 17 January.
On the forgotten Thursday vote agenda this week, there is a resolution on press freedom and human rights in Morocco and a parliamentary delegation from Morocco was in Strasbourg ahead of the debate and vote. The timing is unfortunate.
Despite not being at the centre of Qatargate, Morocco is facing widespread claims – which it denies – that it offered financial inducements to MEPs in return for political support.
A few months ago, nobody would have batted an eyelid at such a resolution. The idea of MPs from third countries lobbying in Strasbourg would have been considered business as usual.
But Qatargate is about more than just old-fashioned corruption and bribery. Firstly, these resolutions are very important to the countries, and the governments concerned. On the other hand, Qatargate has brought about more pressure on lobbying of some countries.
There is nothing wrong with lobbying – individuals, companies, trade unions, governments, NGOs all do it. But there are large grey areas in the practice which have been exposed, again, by Qatargate.
For instance, the so-called ‘friendship’ groups in the European Parliament frequently offer all-expenses-paid trips to the country in question. There’s no wrong-doing here, from either the country or the politicians who accept such invitations, provided that they declare the trip.
However, the rules on disclosure are weak and poorly enforced. Indeed, Parliament President Roberta Metsola, who has been proactive in response to the scandal and has promised to clean up the institution, is reported today to have been months late in declaring over 100 gifts.
The Parliament, hopefully in tandem with the other EU institutions, is seeking to respond to Qatargate with a new set of transparency reforms, the efficacy of which will be vital to the credibility of the EU, particularly the Parliament.
These reforms, no matter how ambitious, will not end corruption in the institutions. In the United States, where lobbying and transparency rules are much stricter than in Europe, conflict of interest and graft cases continue to occur. The challenge for MEPs is to cast light on those many shades of grey.
Who’s electioneering?
Babiš hopes to spring another surprise Andrej Babiš and Petr Pavel will face off on 28 January in the second round of the Czech presidential elections after easily advancing with 35% and 35.4% respectively in the first ballot, way ahead of Danuše Nerudová, who had been polling alongside the top two candidates in the months leading up to the election, only to fade to a disappointing 13.9%.
Former army general Pavel is the heavy favourite with a more than 10-point advantage in opinion polls but former Prime Minister Babiš, who was cleared of subsidy fraud days before the poll, performed far beyond expectations in the first round.
Capitals-in-brief
French far-right group on trial for plot to kill Macron. Members of a far-right French group have gone on trial over a plot to kill President Emmanuel Macron during a First World War memorial ceremony in 2018, planning terrorist attacks and advocating the violent overthrow of the government.
Tanks missing from Scholz’s speech at Davos. German Chancellor Olaf Scholz avoided commenting on the contentious question of delivering Leopard 2 tanks to Ukraine during his speech at the Davos World Economic Forum.
Cybercrime in the Netherlands tripled since 2019. The Netherlands reported a total of 13,949 cybercrimes in 2022, nearly triple the amount reported in 2019.
UK passes bill to scrap thousands of EU laws. The UK government has staved off criticism from the opposition and its own Conservative MPs and pushed through legislation that could lead to around 4,000 pieces of legislation copied from the EU to the UK statute being scrapped by December if ministers do not formally state that they will be kept.
Portugal to increase cheap medicine prices by 5%. The prices of cheap medicines will be increased to facilitate access to them and avoid situations in which stocks run out, according to the Health Ministry.
Weber slams Babiš’s presidential ambitions. Nobody is waiting on the European level for Babiš, EPP leader Manfred Weber said about the presidential aspirations of former Czech prime minister Andrej Babiš.
Inside the institutions
Not all the EPP voted for Marc Angel. The Luxembourgish socialist Marc Angel got the nod to replace Eva Kaili as European Parliament vice-president yesterday (18 January) but only just. Before the vote, the EPP and Renew groups also endorsed Angel, EURACTIV reported yesterday. Angel’s 307 votes (he needed a minimum of 296) were enough to elect him ahead of Annalisa Tardino, an Italian deputy from the far-right Identity and Democracy (ID) group who got 185 votes, far more than the number of conservatives and far-right deputies in the chamber. That suggests that a significant number of the EPP backed Tardino in the secret ballot.
Panzeri speaks. The Qatargate investigations will take a significant direction after former MEP Pier Antonio Panzeri struck an agreement with the Belgian authorities to speak about what he knows to reduce the charges against him. The socialist MEPs Marc Tarabella and Andrea Cozzolino have also been expelled from the S&D group after MEPs lifted their immunity.
Socialists propose 15 points to fight corruption. The European Parliament’s S&D group presented 15 points to fight corruption on Thursday (19 January) as part of their contribution to the Parliament’s reform proposals after Qatargate. These points include the strengthening and enhancing whistleblower protection for staff and accredited parliamentary assistants, the setting up of an ethics body and a special committee on integrity, transparency and corruption within the European Parliament, and the implementation of the transparency register.
Commission out of ideas to tackle soaring food, fertiliser prices. The European Commission has exhausted all options to tackle soaring food and input prices, Agriculture Commissioner Janusz Wojciechowski told EU lawmakers, repeating that the only way forward is to increase the EU farming subsidy budget.
Tug-of-war between airlines and the EU. The airline industry plans to invoke EU rights to freedom of movement to push back against environmental restrictions on short-haul flights, officials in the sector said, following a partial ban in France approved by Brussels in December.
Parliament urges EU to list Iran guards as ‘terrorist’. The European Parliament voted on Wednesday (18 January) to urge Brussels to list Iran’s Revolutionary Guards, also called Sepah or Pasdaran, as a terror group, amid mounting pressure on Western powers to do so.
What we are reading
- How to divide the working class. A horrifying 1863 riot offers a blueprint: attack other races, government and “elites”, writes Charles M. Blow for The New York Times.
- If Germany has truly learned from its history, it will send tanks to defend Ukraine, writes Timothy Garton Ash for The Guardian.
- Time to put Antwerp’s Russian diamonds on EU sanctions list, writes Kathleen Van Brempt and Vicky Reynaert for EU Observer.
The next week in politics
- In the Council, next week will start with Foreign Affairs Council on Monday and finishes with an Informal meeting of justice and home affairs ministers on Thursday and Friday. 25 January
- The European Commission college meeting will take place on Wednesday
- Meanwhile, the European Parliament is back in Brussels with committee meetings and a mini-plenary session.
Thanks for reading. If you’d like to contact us for leaks, tips or comments, drop us a line at [email protected] / [email protected] or contact us on Twitter: @EleonorasVasques & @benfox83
[Edited by Nathalie Weatherald]
Source: euractiv.com
