Severin: Time for action

It is now 16 months since the cash-for-influence scandal rocked the European Parliament and led to the resignation of two MEPs (Ernest Strasser and Zoran Thaler). A third MEP, Adrian Severin of Romania was sacked by the Socialist group but refused to resign from the Parliament. After the scandal, MEPs developed a new Code of Conduct aimed at preventing this from happening again, but it only came in on 1 January 2012 and cannot be applied retrospectively. So what happened next to Severin?

You may be surprised to learn that Severin is still an active MEP despite video tape evidence of him charging 12 000 euros for “two to three days’ work” which included persuading MEP Sebastian Bodu (Romania, European People’s Party) to table an amendment. Severin was promoting this amendment on behalf of a corporate client and expected to be paid for the service (information which was concealed from Bodu at the time). What Severin did not realise was that his corporate client was fake and that this was a sting operation by journalists at the Sunday Times.

Shockingly, Severin has faced no punishment from the European parliamentary authorities since the scandal broke. Documents secured by Magdalena Moreh, the Brussels-based correspondent for Romanian Public Television (TVR), show that the European Anti-fraud Office (OLAF) recommended that Severin be considered for sanction under the Parliament’s rules of procedure. After an investigation, OLAF concluded that Severin “did not act independently when he supported an amendment to European legislation in the legislative process in return for payment”. OLAF has also passed its file to the authorities in Severin’s home country of Romania and recommended “judicial action”.

European Parliament President Martin Schulz has the power to impose one of the, albeit weak, sanctions at his disposal on Severin. Yet according to sources close to President Schulz, his decision will depend on what action the Romanian authorities take.

In January 2012, in a somewhat bizarre development, Severin complained to the European Ombudsman about the way in which he had been investigated by OLAF; the Ombudsman has yet to rule on this complaint. Meanwhile, OLAF wrote in its concluding note to the previous President of the European Parliament Jerzy Buzek that while it had received Severin's full cooperation during their investigation, they were not able to “acquire forensic electronic data in the European Parliament or to conduct interviews with witnesses due to the European Parliament’s refusal to provide the necessary support”. Elsewhere OLAF has said that the Parliament refused to cooperate with their two attempts to search Mr Severin’s office and those of the other MEPs.

The Parliament was apparently concerned about OLAF's remit to investigate and the immunity of MEPs. OLAF has now told CEO that its Director-General Giovanni Kessler and Martin Schulz have recently launched talks to clarify the legal situation concerning OLAF’s investigation of Members of the Parliament.

In another recent development, the senior Socialist MEP Lidia Geringer de Oedenberg (who is also a member of the Bureau which is responsible for the enforcement of the new MEP code of conduct) wrote a comment piece in which she defended Severin’s actions and argued that he should be considered innocent until proven guilty. The Alliance for Lobbying Transparency and Ethics Regulation has published a robust response to her article.

The case of Severin has clearly challenged the parliamentary authorities, as well as the previous European Parliamentary leadership of Mr Buzek and the current presidency of Mr Schulz. And with the Romanian investigations still pending, it remains unclear whether President Schulz will sanction Severin and show, once and for all, that agreeing a payment in return for influencing parliamentary business is totally unacceptable.

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The MEP code of conduct: six months on

“The new code of conduct will be a strong shield against unethical behaviour.” That was the verdict of the then European Parliament President Jerzy Buzek who had just shepherded the new MEP code of conduct through both his own European People's Party (EPP) group and the rest of Parliament. The development of the code followed the cash-for-influence scandal which saw three MEPs disgraced for tabling amendments in return for payment or lucrative second jobs and greater transparency via the new code was supposed to stop MEPs from ending up in the pockets of wealthy lobbyists. The code came into force on 1 January 2012, so six months on – how well has it fared so far?

Not readable, not searchable

At the heart of the code is a new declaration of interest form which MEPs were required to complete by the end of March. The new form asked for much more information about additional income, including from second jobs; membership of boards; shareholdings with public policy implications and other information. Many MEPs are said to have struggled with filling it in by the deadline, and some sought advice from the new advisory committee (made up of five MEPs) about how to do so.

Since then, most if not all MEPs have completed the form, but a statistical overview is not readily available. In fact, scrutiny of these declarations of interest continues to be difficult.

Many are handwritten (which can be hard to read, bordering on illegible); they can be completed in any EU language (which makes them hard to compare); and are not translated and uploaded onto a searchable database as the Alliance for Lobbying Transparency and Ethics Regulation had strongly recommended. Overall, the new forms may include more information than before, but they remain as challenging and time-consuming to scrutinise as ever. But such scrutiny remains incredibly important as there are concerns that some MEPs are not complying with the rules by completing the declarations as fully as they should.

Non-existent scrutiny

In May, Belgian media reported that ex-prime minister and current MEP Jean-Luc Dehaene had stock options granted by AB InBev (where until last year he served on the board) potentially amounting to around three million euros. Friends of the Earth Europe, CEO and other groups immediately wrote to the new President of the Parliament Martin Schulz (Socialist & Democrat) to raise the question of why those stock options were not declared in Mr Dehaene’s declaration of interest dated 27 February 2012. There is also the very serious question of whether, if Mr Dehaene does indeed hold these stock options, of whether they create a risk of a conflict of interest for MEPs who should act independently and in the public interest.

No response has yet been received to this letter but it is understood that Mr Schultz has now met with Mr Dehaene and that the case has been referred to the advisory committee for further investigation.

In this case, it was the media that first raised this issue. The parliamentary authorities have not devoted time to monitor or scrutinise MEPs' declarations or to clarify when things are not understandable (or legible). Instead, the parliamentary authority role seems to have been confined to purely one of administration and uploading the declarations when they receive them.

This is disappointing as codes of conduct do not tend to implement themselves and some proactive action and oversight is required, especially as a new system beds in.

Ex-MEP lobbyists with privileges

CEO has asked the Parliament a series of access to documents requests about how the rules will be implemented and enforced in one specific area ie. the clause in the new code which bans former MEPs from using their life-long Parliament access pass if they are undertaking lobbying activities. It is not clear how many former MEPs go through the revolving door into Brussels lobby jobs, but CEO is aware of a number of recent cases including Erika Mann, John Purvis, Christian Rovsing, Piia-Noora Kauppi and Karin Riis-Jørgensen

CEO had assumed that the new code would mean that former MEPs engaging in lobbying would surrender their lifelong access badge (a perk awarded to all former MEPs when they leave office) at least for the duration of their subsequent lobby activities. Afterall, how else could you effectively enforce this provision in the code? But in fact, that is not how the Parliamentary authorities have interpreted the rules and as a result, it is understood that no former MEP has surrendered their pass. Instead the EP says it is “encouraging former Members engaging in representational activities to apply for [separate] accreditation via the Transparency Register … for the moment additional guidelines for the implementation of [this article] of this Code have not been produced.” It is not known whether any of the former MEPs listed above have accessed the Parliament for lobbying purposes using their life-long pass, but a check shows that none of the above are currently in the EP’s register of lobbyists, the Transparency Register.

Maybe it's too easy to criticise the European Parliamentary authorities for their hands-off approach to implementing the code of conduct for MEPs. Afterall, presumably they take their instructions from MEPs themselves - and perhaps the most shocking development since January has been the way in which senior MEPs have been willing to water-down and undermine the new code.

Gifts under the radar

In May, the Bureau (which is made up of senior MEPs including the parliament's vice presidents and the archaically named 'quaestors') voted to, in effect, weaken the rules regarding what MEPs need to declare when it comes to the receipt of hospitality and gifts. As a result, MEPs would no longer need to declare hospitality such as hotel accommodation received from a third party if it did not exceed a value of €300 per night. Paid travel would also not need to be declared unless it was in business class or first class. Undoubtedly, many EU citizens, who rarely get to travel business class or stay in swanky hotels, would likely be astounded by this move.

Cecilia Wikstrom MEP (Liberal) branded the move as "a complete disgrace" and the decision was the subject of a particularly damning European Voice editorial. The Bureau hid behind its argument that they were simply acting in their role to interpret and implement the rules, but the effect was clear and what they decided was clearly a big step away from the original intention of the code of conduct. The EPP is the largest party in the Bureau, and to add insult to injury, Joseph Daul, the leader of the group in the Parliament later blocked any plenary debate taking place on the Bureau's decision, despite a request from the leaders of the Socialists, Liberals and Greens. MEPs, some of whom have been furious at this development, are now hoping that the Constitutional Affairs committee will take action to overturn the Bureau's decision although that will require plenary support.

Need for vigilance

CEO and other transparency groups welcomed the code of conduct when it came into force six months ago, but since then we have become more and more disheartened about how the parliamentary authorities and some MEPs themselves have responded to it. President Schulz inherited the code; he should take care that under his term of office, it does not morph from Buzek's “shield against unethical behaviour” into a fig leaf behind which unethical behaviour continues, business as usual. This blog was updated on 3 July 2012.

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