European Parliament: Transparency International alerts on the ancillary activities of elected representatives

31% of MEPs have incomes parallel to their elected salaries, according to a study by Transparency International. For the NGO, these activities can create conflicts of interest.

European Parliament. Photo: Official Facebook of the European Parliament in France

Transparency International " carried out an ant work by examining 2,000 declarations of interests " of MEPs [Europe 1]. Le Monde summarizes the main figures of the study: " 31% of the 751 MEPs elected in 2014 have remunerated activities outside their mandate ", knowing that the European Parliament already pays them " 8 484 euros gross per month ". Daniel Freund, author of the study, specifies that if we add the travel and accommodation allowances, " most MEPs receive from Parliament between 10,000 and 12,000 euros net per month "[Le Monde].

French and Belgians in "good" position in the rankings

Euractiv explains that center-left Italian Renato Soru is the highest-paid MEP outside Parliament. Former " CEO of the operator [internet] Tiscali ", he " abandoned his post " after his election " to become a simple advisor ". " On the other hand, he retained his remuneration of 30,000 euros per month ". Le Monde adds that Renato Soru has thus " received between 1.547 million and 1.565 million euros " since the beginning of the term of office.

In second place, the Lithuanian Antanas Guoga (center-right) receives " 200 000 euros per month mysteriously extracted from his activity cryptocurrency bank " [Euractiv]. He is " member of an impressive number of boards, for very varied projects ". Le Monde picks up the figures from the study and calculates that he would have won " at least 1.35 million euros, as a poker player and entrepreneur ".

He is followed by the very vocal leader of the Alliance of European Democrats and Liberals, Guy Verhofstadt. The Belgian newspaper Le Vif recalls that he is " director of Sofina and Theodorus III, the fund of the Free University of Brussels dedicated to spin-offs and start-ups ". " Part of his income " also comes from the coinage of " his speeches ". In total, he received " between 920 000 and 1.42 million euros " during the term of office.

In fourth position: the French Renaud Muselier (LR). As indicated by The Huffington Post, he won " more than 800 000 euros of euros from these activities in the medical sector. (…) He is today at the head of two clinics " in the PACA region. Rachida Dati (LR) is also at the top of the ranking, " with 768 000 euros won in four years as a lawyer ", says Le Monde.

According to 20 minutes, in proportion, " the French elected representatives are among the most numerous MEPs to collect additional income (51%), just behind the Belgians (62%), the Austrians (56%) and the Danes (54%) ".

" French far-right elected representatives took advantage of their elected office to increase their foreign income "

The elected members of the National Assembly (formerly the National Front) in the European Parliament are particularly numerous to have ancillary income. Euractiv reports Daniel Freund's remark on this subject: " what is striking is that the far-right French elected representatives took advantage of their elected office to increase their foreign income ".

There are many examples: Jean-Luc Schaffauser " capitalizes on consulting activities for a company based in Dubai, for 20,000 euros per month ". Bernard Monot " earns between 5 and 10 000 euros per month as an executive-economist-financier ". Like Philippe Loiseau, " who combines the functions of regional councilor, councilor of agglomeration, farmer and organizer of hunts ". Finally Gilles Lebreton, " who declared no income from parallel activities before being elected ", today declares 60 000 euros per year [Euractiv].

" Real Risk of Conflicts of Interest "

Transparency International " alert to the lack of safeguards " with respect to these paid ancillary activities, " which nevertheless present a real risk of conflicts of interest ", specifies Europe 1. The elected ones invoke the necessity to keep " a link with their trade " to return " to their previous activity when their term ends ". The latter also argue that it allows them to " keep a link with their electorate ". But the radio echoes the doubts of the NGO: having a " parallel activity in addition to a full-time deputy job can also create conflicts of interest, or prevent MEPs from devoting a sufficient time and attention to their role as elected ".

Euractiv recalls that a code of conduct was put in place in the European Parliament in 2011 following a corruption scandal. However, it has little impact on the practices of MEPs: " none of the 24 cases to which the European Parliament's ethics committee has been seized for 5 years has received any sanction ".

The World reports that these " violations included the case of six elected officials who failed to declare a luxury trip to Azerbaijan paid by the family in power during the elections in the country ". Belgian liberal MEP Louis Michel was also worried in 2013 for " proposing more than 200 amendments in the case of the data protection regulation, coming directly from interest groups ". He was not punished.

On the other hand, Transparency International questions the links between elected officials and lobbying: " high incomes are particularly worrying when the description of the activities is limited to consultant, lawyer or freelance " [Europe 1] ]. " Three MEPs are currently engaged in paid work for organizations registered in the European Register of Lobbies ". This is the Luxembourgeoise Viviane Reding (center-right) who " is a member of the board of directors of the Bertelsmann Foundation, one of the largest media companies in the world " and who has interests in the Luxembourgish media. Agnes Jongerius, " Dutch MEP [socialiste] is on the Supervisory Board of PostNL, the Post of the Netherlands " and finally Paul Rübig (center-right) " works for the Austrian Chamber of Commerce "[Le Monde].

The French are not left out, ton The Huffington Post. Between 2014 and 2018, the former minister of Nicolas Sarkozy, Rachida Dati, " declared 768 000 euros drawn from his law firm without it being known who remunerates ". In the past, she was " pointed out for its links with GDF-Suez " by the journalist Elise Lucet for the program Cash Investigation: " she denied ".

Recommendations of Transparency International

The Huffington Post concludes by citing the 4 major reforms to be adopted according to the NGO: " i ban on MEPs lobbying in the margins of a mandate "and with" a period of deficiency for the leavers "; " transmission of details " of the parallel activity; improvement of " control carried out by the European Parliament "; and establishment of " independent authority to punish abuses ". According to Le Monde, " l 'institution would be well advised to follow these recommendations, ten months of European elections ".