Tag: EU Parliament

Nicolas Schmit: S&D won’t do deals with far right after elections

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The S&D’s lead candidate in the European elections outlined his views on revising the Migration Pact and opposing the far right to Global Conversation’s Isabel da Silva Marques.

For the past five years, Nicholas Schmit has held the Jobs and Social Rights portfolio in the Ursula von der Leyen-led European Commission. Why has he decided to run for the presidency of the EU’s executive body? 

“I think that after the five years where we tried to put social [agenda] at the centre, I thought that there was still more to be done. I think this is the right moment for social democracy to get the Commission [presidency] after such a long period, because we had for 30 years, well for 25 years, conservative presidents of the Commission. It’s time for change.”

Schmit believes EU citizens are living through a time of great instability and insecurity, and that that has fuelled the rise of the extreme right:

“We are living in a very uncertain period. It’s uncertain for different reasons. We are coming out of major crisis: the COVID crisis was not so far away, the financial crisis. We had difficult moments for many, many European citizens due to inflation. We have a war in Europe. So, I think this uncertainty, plus the topic of migration, has now being focus of the debates. And finally, the extreme right are playing on fear. They are not proposing anything, but they are playing on fear. And I think this creates this special situation. But we still have a few weeks to go and to show that it’s not about fear, it’s about building confidence.”

To save the Green Deal, support farmers

A major undertaking of the next five years will be building confidence in the Green Deal, according to Schmit. The future of the EU’s landmark strategy to achieve net zero climate goals has been called into question by angry farmers’ protests in recent months. 

“We have seen during the last years and decades that farmers’ income has gone down,” Schmit says. “We have seen immense hikes in their production cost but their income, their prices have not reflected these increases. I think we have to reflect about how far also the idea of a pure market functioning is adequate, because it penalises, finally, many, many farmers. In many cases, smaller and medium sized farmers have big difficulties.”

“This another fact: how to support the transformation of our farming industry, of our farming. Also introducing technology, obviously is important. We are developing artificial intelligence. How can farmers be supported by artificial intelligence or other technological means? And, at the end, it’s also about bureaucracy. I agree that if the farmer spends more time in the office than on the field, this is something which is not normal. But, at the end, farmers have a big interest in the success of a fair, socially fair and economically fair Green Deal.”

Deep concerns about Migration Pact

The EU’s groundbreaking Migration Pact is another transformative piece of legislation from the current parliament. Years in the making, it centres on bilateral agreements with Tunisia, Egypt and Mauritania. But Schmit views it as a work in progress:

“I am quite reluctant about these deals, which have still to be prove efficient. We are spending now huge amounts of money, giving these money to different regimes or governments like the Tunisian government. We know that the authorities there are really treating very badly the refugees. We have still the problem in Libya, where there is no real… there is a government there, even two governments. We have the question in Egypt. So I’m quite reluctant with this kind of, deals. […] 

“I think we have to revise them and see what can be done. How can we do it differently? Because we do not know exactly also how the money is used. That’s another issue. I’ve heard now that there has been a deal with Lebanon too, to keep the Syrians away from Europe. Nobody knows exactly how the money which has been announced will be spent in Lebanon, given the situation of the Lebanon’s government, which is in some way a very weak government. And the Hezbollah and other influences, being there.”

Countering a resurgent far right

Migration is among the main issues of the European election campaign and one that far-right parties seek to capitalise on. Polls suggest they will make major gains in June and become a substantial force within the next parliament. Schmit believes the conservatives of the European People’s Party may be willing to negotiate deals with the hard right on the legislative agenda, but he is adamant that his Socialists and Democrats bloc will not.    

“There is no way. I’m very clear on that. There’s no way to have any arrangement, deal or whatever with the extreme right. Because I noticed that, with EPP, they make some very special distinction between extreme rights; the ‘decent’ extreme right and the pariah extreme right. Well, when I look at the so-called decent extreme right, who are these people? They are Vox. They are Franco admirers. They are Mussolini admirers. They are PiS party, who was about to abolish the rule of law in Poland and was sanctioned by the commission. So where is the decent extreme right? There is none. And that’s why there is no way to have any arrangement to just buying votes. Because the extreme right is intelligent, they will not give their votes for nothing. So, they will ask concessions on the way how European policy will be defined.

“Their [the far right] idea, their conception of Europe is fundamentally different from ours, social democrats. But I suppose, I suppose now I am not sure anymore of the EPP conception, because the EPP conception is very much linked to the former Christian Democrats. Now, I know that for real Christian Democrats, there’s no way to have an alliance with whichever form of the extreme right. And that’s our position too. I’m very clear. No way to have any understanding here.”

To see more on this and on Nicolas Schmit’s views on supporting Ukraine, dealing with China, and other issues, click on the video above.

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‘You have a choice,’ says Roberta Metsola ahead of European elections

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The President of the European Parliament, Roberta Metsola, reflects on two and half years in the hot seat, the recent migration pact and explains why voters should go to the ballot box.

Millions of people are expected to vote in the European elections in six weeks time and collectively decide on the future of the European Union. 

Roberta Metsola, the President of the European Parliament, sat down with Euronews Correspondent Méabh Mc Mahon in Strasbourg to discuss her electoral campaign, her achievements and the impact of recent corruption scandals involving MEPs.

To watch this latest episode of the Global Conversation click on the video in the media player above or read the full interview below.

Méabh Mc Mahon, Euronews: President Metsola, thank you so much for being our guest on the Global Conversation. They say when you have small children, the days are very, very long, but the years are short. Do you have the same feeling, perhaps, after two and a half years as president of the European Parliament?

Roberta Metsola, President of the European Parliament: Well, I have four children. Some of them are smaller than others, and I would absolutely agree. If somebody had told me at the beginning of the two and a half years what these two years were going to look like, I would never have been able to predict how much we managed to achieve, but also how many crises and challenges we’ve had to overcome and handle.

Méabh Mc Mahon, Euronews: And on those achievements, what stood out for you? What was your highlight? What are you most proud of?

Roberta Metsola, President of the European Parliament: Well, in terms of an institutional perspective, we have managed to push through a huge amount of reforms, perhaps also to address challenges that we were met with head-on, in terms of how this Parliament will come back in July. I am extremely proud of those reforms, of the effectiveness of the way that legislation will be able to run tomorrow through this Parliament more smoothly. 

From a legislative perspective, I would say the migration pact, which we thought would not see the light of day after almost a decade of being blocked, we managed to push it through, with a sometimes narrow but much-needed majority in this House.

The EU’s migration and asylum pact

Méabh Mc Mahon, Euronews: It was hailed indeed as an achievement by you, wasn’t it – the migration pact – after so many years. But nobody really likes it…

Roberta Metsola, President of the European Parliament: Well, I would say that the extremists don’t like it on both sides of the spectrum. Why? Because it is a balanced package which has solidarity as its focus. Reinforcement of external borders, working on returns. 

Still, a lot to do with how we deal with third countries, that we talk to our neighbouring countries not only about migration, but also about investment, development and possibility, and we never forget that at the very centre of this package are human beings and migrants.

Méabh Mc Mahon, Euronews: Well, indeed, do migrants like the package do you think?

Roberta Metsola, President of the European Parliament: Well, we have to make sure it works for everybody, and that if there is somebody who is looking for a future because there’s none at home, then Europe will be able to look at that person rather than squabble between the countries, and almost face a certain death in the Mediterranean.

Political scandals

Méabh Mc Mahon, Euronews: And just on that note as well, you mentioned, putting out a lot of crises here as well. That was, of course, your job. You did, of course, have last winter that corruption scandal, where allegedly some of your members were under the influence of certain governments. How did it feel, when you got that phone call from the authorities to have to go to investigate, to go to the home of one of your vice presidents of the European Parliament, Eva Kaili?

Roberta Metsola, President of the European Parliament: Well, actually, I went to the home of a Belgian member of the European Parliament. This was a specific, I would say, ‘gut punch’ on that night in December 2022. Now, we had a choice that day, either we say that this is something that would happen in any Parliament or that we look at the party political colour or that we look at the country involved. But I refused to do that. I said this House needs to move on. 

This House needs to make sure that if something like this happens again, then firewalls would be put in place and alarm bells would be sounded. It took a very long time, to go through the motions of what needed to be done. 

This was, I would say unprecedented, and also unexpected. But once we did that, we realised as a house that we need to indeed reform in the way we do things. The status quo was always better. Pushing through that was very hard, but there was no doubt and here I am proud of the response of the members when they said, you know, we do not want this mandate, which is huge in terms of its impact, to be tarnished by the alleged actions of a small number. And I think that’s where we can say we are today.

Méabh Mc Mahon, Euronews: I remember very well, that you called it an attack on the European Parliament. And just moving from that scandal to another, you have just a couple of weeks before the EU elections, the so-called Russiagate, where some of your members here have allegedly been under the influence of people close to the Kremlin in return for money to therefore spread positive messaging about Russia. What more can you tell us about this?

Roberta Metsola, President of the European Parliament: Well, first of all, what I know for now, until now, we have something that we have been discussing, and I have been discussing this with prime ministers for many months now. 

We have been alerted when we looked at national elections, that there would also be a certain amount of unprecedented disinformation, Russian disinformation in some countries more than others. 

We continue to wait for information to be received from national authorities because this would require any waiver of immunity being adopted by this House. Investigations that would need to take place like we had, like had happened in the past and would require national authorities to ask. We’re waiting for that. And if that happens, we will do our job as we’ve always done.

Méabh Mc Mahon, Euronews: So you don’t know how many MEPs could be involved and some could be potentially running for office. They want to sit again in this chamber.

Roberta Metsola, President of the European Parliament: So far no names have been communicated to us. And we are waiting. We are waiting.

Why are the European elections important?

Méabh Mc Mahon, Euronews: And meanwhile, of course, as I said, these elections are coming up. Why should people vote? I mean, I know in this Parliament everyone will be voting. Everyone’s excited about the elections, but why should our viewers care?

Roberta Metsola, President of the European Parliament: Well, look at the chairs. They’re empty, but in a few minutes, they will be filled with, 705 today. 720, in just over a month, where those 720 are going to be making decisions for you. Now you have a choice. You either decide who you want to sit in these chairs, or you let others decide for you. 

Those people sitting there from your country are going to be your country’s ambassadors
They’re going to be taking decisions that affect your everyday life, whether it is on decisions to do with climate, or on social issues. We adopt, for example, the Violence Against Women directive, a very, very big, let’s say pillar of legislation that we’ve been working on for many, many years. This is something you can affect with your vote every five years. Don’t miss out on that opportunity.

Méabh Mc Mahon, Euronews: And you’re on TikTok, right? I’ve seen you just joined TikTok.

Roberta Metsola, President of the European Parliament: Yes, my kids are not so happy going back to the first question.

Méabh Mc Mahon, Euronews: How’s it going for you? Are you managing to get the message out to the people and bring this Parliament that feels so abstract, closer to the people?

Roberta Metsola, President of the European Parliament: Well, there was a choice to have made. Do we go on to social media platforms that I say my children have been saying for a very long time, please don’t go on it, Mom. Four countries vote at the age of 16 and one country will vote at the age of 17. 

We have seen and this is what I’ve done, going from one country to another, asking young people, where do you get your news? What I don’t want is for those young people to get their news potentially from propaganda or misinformation sources. So we said, let’s get on there, let’s get our message through. And hopefully, once those kids are scrolling through, they get something that says, oh, I like this, I’ll go vote.

Méabh Mc Mahon, Euronews: Okay. You pique their curiosity. And what about you? What’s your future looking like? Would you like one day to be the president of the European Commission or to run your country?

Roberta Metsola, President of the European Parliament: Well, this has been a privilege of a lifetime, to be able to have this responsibility that my colleagues have entrusted to me in the past two and a half years. I’m now working pretty hard back home because I need to run for my seat. And that’s my aim in order to be elected once again to represent the citizens of Malta and Gozo.

Méabh Mc Mahon, Euronews: And which elections are more important? The ones taking place in June in Europe or the ones taking place on the other side of the pond in November.

Roberta Metsola, President of the European Parliament: Well, all democracies deserve a good election and a good campaign. There are more people in the world who can’t choose their leaders, and there are who can. So we will be very much looking, to the November elections. But first, we have pretty big ones here, and I’m hoping that those big ones will return a group of members who will come here and say, we want to work for more Europe. We want to work for the better lives of our citizens.

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Does the European Union have the resources to match its ambitions?

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This article was originally published in French

Calls to reform the institutions to make the EU more efficient, more democratic and better adapted to contemporary challenges are growing.

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Fifteen years have passed since the last update of a European Union treaty. 

Signed in 2007 and into force since 2009, the Treaty of Lisbon clarified the division of competences between the EU and its member states, gave the EU its own legal personality and provided for the first time a formal procedure for the withdrawal of a member state from the Union.

Since then, enlargement has been one of the reasons regularly put forward by those in favour of reforming the EU’s institutions, treaties and budget, but it is far from the only one. The war in Ukraine, the digital and energy transition, the fight against climate change and social inequalities – these are all global challenges that require the EU to have a greater capacity for action, according to the Foundation for European Progressive Studies in its report “EU Treaties: Why they need targeted changes”.

Enlargement and internal reform have been regular items on the European institutions’ agenda in recent years. At the end of November, the European Parliament gave the green light to proposals to reform the EU Treaties. At the Granada Summit in early October, the President of the Commission, Ursula Von der Leyen, also called for enlargement of the EU not to wait for a change in the Treaties. Citizens also put forward recommendations and proposals on the future of the Union at the Conference on the Future of Europe, a series of debates held between 2021 and 2022.

In concrete terms, what proposals for reform were put forward? How would they be adopted? Here are seven key areas for reform.

1. Decision-making and enlargement

First of all, MEPs are calling for changes to the voting mechanisms within the Council. In order to prevent the institutions from coming to a standstill, they are advocating the generalisation of qualified majority voting in all areas where unanimity is still required.

Currently, a qualified majority is reached when at least 55% of Member States (i.e. 15 out of 27) vote in favour and when these member states represent at least 65% of the EU population.

MEPs are also calling for a more bicameral system that would strengthen the role of the Parliament and for a reversal of the current roles in the election of the President of the Commission: in future, the Parliament would propose the President of the Commission and the Council would approve them.

In order to prepare the EU institutions for enlargement, the “Group of Twelve”, a Franco-German working group on institutional reforms, advocates abolishing the power of veto in the field of foreign affairs, retaining a maximum number of 751 MEPs and extending the format of the trio to five presidencies in the EU Council.

2. Peace and security

The war in Ukraine has also highlighted “the scope and limits of the European Union’s power”, says the Foundation for European Progressive Studies in its report. While member states have deployed a range of sanctions against Russia and provided economic, military and humanitarian support to Ukraine, the war has demonstrated their failure to anticipate this crisis, their dependence on the United States for their own defence and their dependence on Russian gas imports.

The members of the European Parliament therefore propose the creation of a defence union with military capabilities.

3. Consolidating the rule of law

The defence of the rule of law and the democratic legitimacy of the EU could be strengthened through institutional reforms. To this end, the authors of the report “Navigating the High Seas: EU Reform and Enlargement in the 21st Century” recommend increasing budget conditionality and improving Article 7 of the Treaty on European Union (TEU), which allows a member state’s voting rights in the Council to be suspended if it fails to respect fundamental values such as democracy, the rule of law and human rights.

The European Commission first triggered Article 7 in 2017 againstPoland, when Warsaw was planning a reform that threatened the independence of the judiciary. In 2018, Hungary was targeted by the same procedure following concerns about the independence of the judiciary, freedom of expression, corruption and minority rights. Conditional on a unanimous vote minus a single vote in the Council, Article 7 has never come to fruition.

“Article 7 has not worked simply because if a country is accused of breaking these rules, all it takes is for another country to block a decision being taken against it. Hungary and Poland have protected each other on a number of occasions in recent years,” explains Daniela Schwarzer, a member of the Bertelsmann Foundation’s Board of Trustees.

4. Climate change

The Treaty on the Functioning of the EU already refers to environmental protection. In addition, MEPs called for the reduction of global warming and the preservation of biodiversity to be added as objectives of the Union. The Foundation for European Progressive Studies also proposes introducing a new exclusive competence for the EU in terms of international policy to combat climate change, which would enable the Union to negotiate environmental rules with a single voice.

5. Energy transition

Soaring energy prices following the war in Ukraine have highlighted the dependence of some European countries on Russian gas.

Members of the European Parliament are proposing the creation of an integrated European Energy Union to guarantee a stable, affordable and sustainable energy supply for Europeans. This strategy is based on five pillars: energy security, an integrated internal energy market, energy efficiency, decarbonisation of the economy, and research and the economy.

6. Digital transition

The Lisbon Treaty makes no mention of the term “digital”. Many experts therefore insist that the text needs to be updated.

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The European Union has already adopted important texts on digital issues. The Digital Markets Act (DMA), for example, provides a framework for the economic activity of major digital platforms such as YouTube, Facebook, Amazon and Microsoft in the European Union. The General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) protects users’ personal data. According to the authors of the report “The EU Treaties: Why they need targeted changes”, digital issues should be a shared competence between the EU and member states, in order to guarantee access to the Internet, the right to disconnect, digital education, the right to live without the need for digital technologies and the right to a safe environment.

7. Health

Finally, the COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted the need for Europe-wide coordination and cooperation in the field of health.

A European health data area, equitable access to healthcare within the EU, joint purchasing of vaccines and medicines, management of rare diseases, and the development of orphan drugs are just some of the public goods that could be developed. These are all public goods that could be developed on a European scale if the EU’s competences were extended, according to the Foundation for European Progressive Studies.

On the other hand, some opponents of such reforms believe that these powers should be devolved to the member states and call for greater national sovereignty. Others sometimes consider that amendments to the Treaties are unnecessary because the texts already allow for some of these measures.

How are the treaties amended?

1. Ordinary revision procedure

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The government of a member state, the European Parliament and the European Commission may submit a proposal to amend the Treaties to the Council of the European Union (composed of the ministers of the governments of member states).

The government of a member state, the European Parliament and the European Commission may submit a proposal to amend the Treaties to the Council of the European Union (composed of the ministers of the governments of the member states).

The Council of the European Union in turn submits these proposals to the European Council (composed of the Heads of State or Government of the member states), whose President may choose to convene a Convention.

A Conference of Representatives of the Governments of member states is then convened by the President of the European Council to adopt the proposed amendments to the Treaties by consensus. These amendments must then be ratified by all member states.

2. Simplified revision procedure

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The Lisbon Treaty creates a simplified procedure for amending the EU’s internal policies and actions.

This procedure avoids the need to convene the Convention and the Conference of Representatives.

Amendments to the Treaties must be ratified by all member states.

3. Bridging clauses

Passerelle clauses are a second simplified revision procedure used in two scenarios.

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For legislative acts adopted by the Council of the EU unanimously, the European Council may authorise the Councils to act by qualified majority.

For legislative acts adopted by the Council of the EU under a special legislative procedure, the European Council may authorise the use of the ordinary legislative procedure.

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Exclusive poll projects pro-EU grand coalition straining, but alive

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Rising support for the far right and a collapse for Greens and Liberals won’t change the fundamental MEP arithmetic after June elections, the groundbreaking Euronews/Ipsos survey found.

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Support for the far-right is likely to rise in the next European Parliament, but pro-European parties will still hold 63% of the seats, according to a poll carried out by Ipsos for Euronews, published today (19 March).

The exclusive survey – of nearly 26,000 people, in countries representing 96% of the EU population – is the first of its kind in the run-up to landmark elections due in June.

The predicted results won’t change the fundamental calculus of the European Parliament, where centrists will continue to muster the majority needed to confirm officials and pass legislation, the polling suggests.

Yet parties from the radical and eurosceptic right could see significant gains, topping the polls in four of the EU’s six founding members – while uncertainties over party affiliation suggest there’s plenty left to play for.

With nearly 400 million eligible to vote, the elections to be held from 6-9 June 2024 to appoint 720 MEPs will be one of the world’s largest democratic exercises.

Despite five turbulent years during which Europe faced the pandemic, soaring prices and a full-scale war, Ipsos predicts remarkably little change in the fortunes of the EU’s two dominant political parties.

Pro-Europeans continue to muster a majority

The number of MEPs held by the centre-right EPP and left-wing Socialists are set to change by only few percent from their position today, according to the survey.

In third place will come a weakened Renew Europe, Emmanuel Macron’s liberal coalition – while the ascendant radical right-wing ID and eurosceptic ECR groups will plunge the Green party into sixth place, the poll said.

One of the first key duties of the next European Parliament will be to approve the President of the European Commission.

As such, the results spell good news for incumbent Ursula von der Leyen, whose EPP group seems set to top the poll with ease, securing 177 of 720 MEPs.

She could then secure the majority she needs with the support of two other major pro-European parties, including the Socialists and either Greens or Liberals, the results suggest.

But those numbers don’t tell the whole story, Fabian Zuleeg of the European Policy Centre told Euronews in an interview — as in practice parties and countries don’t always stay loyal in votes that are cobbled together on individual policy issues.

“It will become much more difficult to construct majorities in the parliament” if the centre is weakened, said Zuleeg, who is Chief Executive of the Brussels-based think tank – particularly on controversial issues.

That could lead to the European Commission depending more on non-legislative instruments like spending programmes or standard-setting, he added.

Rise of the radical right

With 30 extra seats projected between ID and ECR, the far-right would enjoy more of a rise than a surge – but that includes support in countries often seen as the most fervently pro-European.

National Rally, the French party led by Marine Le Pen, is predicted to gain ten extra seats, becoming the largest party in the European Parliament alongside Germany’s CDU/CSU.

The Netherlands’ Geert Wilders – the surprise winner of November 2023 national elections – will capture nine.

Giorgia Meloni’s Brothers of Italy party is projected to take 24 of Italy’s 76 seats, while In Belgium, two right-wing parties, Flemish Interest and the NVA, will take three apiece. Germany’s AfD party is projected to have 15 MEPs, putting it in joint third place nationally.

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Those successes could have consequences for European policymaking, academic Cas Mudde told Euronews, with a tougher line on immigration and green laws.

But the far-right don’t always see eye-to-eye on issues like support for Ukraine, and a Brexit-style withdrawal isn’t on the agenda, said Mudde, a Professor at the University of Georgia, USA, who specialises in European populist extremism.

“In general, there will be less support for the deepening for European integration,” he told Euronews in an email, but added that “most far-right parties today want to transform rather than leave the EU.”

Greens lose support

Another potential change could be to the EU’s environment policy, as the bloc seeks to cut emissions by 55% by 2030.

The Green Party are set to lose 17 MEPs, according to the poll, mostly in France and Germany – while the EPP’s position has recently hardened against EU green policies.

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But that doesn’t necessarily portend a climate U-Turn, given the EU has already set its overall strategic objectives, Jos Delbeke told Euronews in an interview.

“Major pieces of legislation have already been agreed,” and the next mandate will focus more on implementing them, said Delbeke, a Professor at the Florence School of Transnational Governance who formerly headed up the European Commission’s climate change department.

Dismantling the green deal “is going to be very hard to do” – despite rising farmer protests and some work still to do on tackling pollution and protecting nature, he said.

Uncertainties remain

Ipsos surveyed 25,916 people in 18 countries over the phone and online, between 23 February and 5 March. Those results were then re-weighted to ensure representativeness, and completed with documentary research for the remaining, smaller nine EU members.

But there’s still three months to go – and these are projections, not results. Even after the elections are over, there could be changes of allegiance or new coalitions.

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One key thing to watch will be the role of the “non-attached” MEPs who don’t belong to any defined group, who the poll suggests could constitute nearly 10% of lawmakers.

Though a mixed bag featuring left-wing and centrist politicians, they also include around a dozen from Hungary’s right-wing Fidesz party, which left the EPP in 2021. Account for them and the parliament could see a right-wing majority – albeit by a narrow margin.

Likewise, the position of Italy’s currently unaffiliated Five Star Movement could prove key. If it succeeds in joining the Green party, as it has attempted to do in the past, its predicted 16 MEPs could significantly change electoral arithmetic.

Keep up to date with the polling for the EU elections with Euronews’ Polls Centre.

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Scandals have ‘shattering effect’ on belief in EU, says Ombudsman

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In this latest episode of the Global Conversation, Euronews speaks with EU Ombudsman, Emily O’Reilly, about corruption, transparency, and trust in European institutions.

As the European Union looks to restore trust in its institutions after last year’s shocking corruption scandals, Euronews sat down with European Ombudsman, Emily O’Reilly, who overviews transparency and ethics issues related to the EU, to discuss transparency, intelligence and what it all means for how we perceive Europe.

Sándor Zsiros, Euronews: Emily O’Reilly Thanks for being with us. Lately, we saw the biggest corruption scandal in the history of the European Union, MEPs and assistants were caught running with big money bags. Have you been surprised by this scandal?

Emily O’Reilly, EU Ombudsman: “Yes and no. I mean, the scandal itself is quite shocking and it is being played out in the Belgian courts, and all of that, we need to be mindful of that. But I suppose anybody watching it would have been quite shocked by it because the graphics were quite dramatic. We saw literally euro notes, we saw suitcases. So everybody [saw that] a sort of cartoon-like idea of corruption was served up to them. So that was quite dramatic. But I suppose when you look at the Parliament in the way that a lot of the rules and codes, that are supposed to protect parliament against corruption, even though there are a lot of them, they’re not really enforced and monitored. So I suppose in a way this was a sort of a scandal or an accident waiting to happen.”

Sándor Zsiros, Euronews: This organisation or this network has been running in the parliament for a quite long time. How is it possible that inside the EU, they have been not detected, but they have been detected only by the Belgian police?

Emily O’Reilly, EU Ombudsman: “My understanding is it was the intelligence services of another country that gave the information to the Belgian authorities. So that’s what happened there. One of the European Union’s anti-fraud agencies, which is called OLAF (European Anti-Fraud Office), they’ve always had a problem using their powers in relation to the Parliament. So for example, if OLAF suspects that something wrong is being done by somebody in another institution, in another EU agency, they have the right to go into those institutions, to go into people’s offices, to look at their computers, to do everything. Almost like police people. But the Parliament has always refused what OLAF sees as its legal right to do that. So the question is, if OLAF had had the right to go in and search MEPs offices if there was a suspicion that something wrong was been doing, might the scandal have been detected before it was detected by the Belgian authorities? But we don’t know. It’s just speculation.”

Sándor Zsiros, Euronews: Now, the European Parliament is trying to get things right to wrap up this scandal. Do you think they are doing enough?

Emily O’Reilly, EU Ombudsman: “I was observing what was happening in December in the parliament when the scandal broke and everybody was saying the right things. Everybody was saying, this is terrible. We have to fix it. We have to fix it. But now we’re a few months on and we’re still waiting to see precisely what fixing it means.”

Sándor Zsiros: Let’s talk about the big picture, what this corruption scandal means for the whole of the European Union, because this is obviously eroding the trust towards the institutions. What do you think about the effect in the long run?

Emily O’Reilly, EU Ombudsman: “Well, I think that you’re right. I mean, trust is very important. And, you know, it is said that you cannot have political legitimacy without moral authority. You can’t have political legitimacy either unless the people trust in you. 

“And of course, as you know, we’re now in Brussels. Brussels, for most people, is an idea. And it’s an idea that is very far away. So they don’t understand it in the same way as they would their own member state governments, administrations and so on. And therefore, they’re almost predestined to distrust it because they don’t understand it. So, therefore, it’s quite fragile, the trust that there is, that can be there between the European Union and its citizens. And therefore, when the administration does things, when the EU does things which damage that trust, it can have, you know, almost a shattering effect on people’s belief in the EU. 

“You have to draw the dots between the small little incidents that you might not think are particularly important and the bigger picture, the way that they lead to or can lead to distrust by the citizens on the entire European Union project. And also it’s used by people who are sceptical of the EU and people who are hostile to the EU. So it’s very important that the EU acts to the highest possible ethical standards in order to protect its political legitimacy.”

Sándor Zsiros, Euronews: There was another scandal when the former transport chief of the European Commission flew nine times to Qatar. And these trips have been paid for by the Qatari government. At the time when, you know, the European Union was negotiating with Qatar about the airline industry, was this a transparency issue for you or a lobbying issue? Any wrongdoings here?

Emily O’Reilly, EU Ombudsman: “You know, it was extraordinary because it wasn’t just the European Union that was developing this open skies policy, which was going to benefit directly Qatar Air, the people who were giving this gentleman the free flights to Qatar, but it was his department, his directorate general, that was devising the regulations. So there was a clear conflict of interest. But when the commission spokesperson was asked who decided whether there was a conflict of interest or not, it was revealed that he did. So he asked himself if there was a conflict of interest, and obviously he said no, or whatever he said and he went off and flew to Qatar.”

Sándor Zsiros, Euronews: Commission President, Ursula von der Leyen, also dealt in private text messages with the CEO of Pfizer about the vaccine procurement. And those text messages were not archived, were not published. So how do you see these issues in the future, the issue of dealing differently with those kind of messages?

Emily O’Reilly, EU Ombudsman: “We’re all now so used to using these WhatsApps and Snapchats and everything else to send our messages. And while that creates a lot of efficiencies and so on, the transparency and accountability trail when public administrations are using these methods of communicating and politicians indeed, that’s problematic. So the question is, how do we capture that?”

Sándor Zsiros, Euronews: Let’s talk about money because hundreds of billions of taxpayers’ money are flowing towards the recovery and resilience facilities. Also, the European Union is supporting the defence of Ukraine by billions. Are the European taxpayers in a position to, you know, follow up on where this money is flowing?

Emily O’Reilly, EU Ombudsman: “Well, I think they should be. I don’t think they are completely yet. I mean, we’ve done quite a lot of work on the funds that were the post-covid funds of 700 billion, whatever the figure was. And all we are saying is that, look, this money is being distributed around the Member States. Obviously, whenever there’s money of that amount circling around the place, there are possibilities of corruption. There are possibilities that it’s not going to be well used and so on. So let the citizens also be the watchdogs of this money.”

Sándor Zsiros, Euronews: Your organisation just published the annual report for last year. When you add up all of these developments, you know, transparency, lobbying, ethical problems, Qatargate. Do you think it was a turning point in how we see the European Union?

Emily O’Reilly, EU Ombudsman: “In relation to Qatargate, it’s an interesting story because it was very easy to understand and, you know, it was dramatic and all of that and we had the pictures of the money in the suitcases. But at the same time, I think it also recognises the growing importance of the European Union. And certainly when you have the polarisation of the United States, then you have Brexit and what’s happening in the UK, you have Russia, you have China, you have whatever, there’s never been a greater need for Europe to assert itself globally. But to do that, it has to have a moral authority. And I suppose that feeds into a lot of the issues that you’ve just been discussing.”

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