BRUSSELS – The European Commission plans to table its long-delayed proposal for an EU ethics body in March, Vice President Vera Jourova said on Tuesday amid mounting pressure on Brussels to push back on what it sees as corruption allegations. Taking honesty seriously.
Speaking to members of the European Parliament in Strasbourg, Jourova said the proposal for an independent ethics body aims to ensure that the eight EU institutions are of a “common, clear and high standard” and “uniform”, while respecting the “specialties” of the different institutions. Help in keeping the control system”.
Yet Jourova highlighted the challenge of aligning rules for institutions as diverse as the European Parliament, the European Central Bank and the European Court of Justice. His goal, he said, is to offer a plan that is “politically viable but also meaningful,” and that can also serve as a “preventive measure” against loopholes.
Private reluctance from various institutions – even as they express public support for greater oversight – has hindered these efforts for years.
Commission President Ursula von der Leyen called on Zorova to work on the effort in 2019 when they were both taking office. Parliament also adopted its resolution in 2021 supporting the idea. Yet after years of negotiations that highlighted political and legal obstacles to implementing the ethics, Jourova said late last year that she was leaning towards an advisory body with little power to investigate or punish wrongdoing.
Advocates of more stringent integrity standards are now hoping the recent Qatargate scandal – which included allegations that countries such as Qatar and Morocco may have paid MEPs – may turn “politically viable” into an ethics body.
In her remarks to the plenary session on Tuesday, Jourova said the inspection unit “could be about investigating and maybe even sanctioning.” But finding a way to do so legally has been a challenge, she said.
The proposal will apply to the Commission, the Council of the European Union, the Parliament, the European Central Bank, the Court of Auditors, the Court of Justice, the Committee of the Regions and the Economic and Social Committee. Jourova also mentions declarations of assets and conflicts of interest as factors that may fall under the ethics body’s mandate.
The ethics body cannot replace investigative bodies that look into criminal acts, such as the European Anti-Fraud Office and the European Public Prosecutor, Jourova said, adding that it would be an “extra layer” beyond each institution’s own internal measures. will work as. to enforce the rules.
It also cannot serve as a substitute conscience. “We all have our own responsibility. We have higher tasks to do, and we should all have some moral direction,” he said, to applause from the full room.
MEPs are on track to add their political momentum to the ethics body push on Thursday, when they will vote on a motion urging the Commission to detail its plans.
Negotiators are zeroing in on the final text of the proposal, which will call on the commission to publish its proposal “by March at the latest,” according to one draft. Retrieved by Politico,
The draft proposal seeks for the ethics body to have “a list of agreed functions to propose and advise on matters and regulations” that will apply to relevant officers before, during and after their service.
It should have “power to initiate investigation on its own” and be able to “verify the veracity of declaration of financial interests”, says the draft.
Whether the Council of the European Union – whose ministry includes diplomats also subject to national laws – will sign up to a unified ethics system remains a major question mark. After a lengthy debate in Strasbourg on Tuesday, a high-level council delegate was unconvinced.
“We are ready to consider working on an upcoming proposal,” said Jessica Roswall, Sweden’s EU affairs minister who currently holds the rotating council presidency. “We all need to live up to high expectations and standards when it comes to ethics and transparency.”
Eddy Wax contributed reporting from Strasbourg.