Press review on the EU affair
“Couldn’t have been worse”
12/11/2022, 8:03 p.m
The horror at the corruption scandal in the EU Parliament is great, and commentators in German newspapers agree: the damage is immense. The governments in Hungary and Poland, who were skeptical about the EU, now sensed “morning dawn”. One newspaper even sees a “warning shot for all parliaments”.
“Why should Qatar bribe a vice-president who hardly anyone outside of her Greek homeland knows and who nobody ever thought of as a center of power in Brussels? It seems as if the Gulf emirate has taken Parliament more seriously than the EU citizens it represents themselves” she writes “Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung” on the scandal and demands: “The majority of MPs should turn their outrage into energy in order to now close a gap in the transparency regime of the EU institutions: Interest groups from third countries must also be included in the transparency register.” However, one should not delude oneself. “Such a reform would not have prevented a clumsy case of bribery like the one that has now apparently been uncovered – and Parliament’s battered reputation will not be improved that easily either.”
the “Badish newspaper” also deals with the topic and sees a need for action: “The European Parliament must now lift the immunity of the suspects immediately and thus ensure that the allegations of corruption against MPs from their own ranks can be cleared up.” As a result, the newspaper fears: “The governments of Hungary and Poland, who have been castigated by the European Parliament for violating the rule of law, now sense the dawn. They don’t want to be pilloried by MPs who can’t keep their own house in order. This is a much bigger problem for the EU than the unclean PR methods of the Gulf Emirate that have now come to light.” So far, Parliament has been “the warning moral authority”. “It’s missing now.”
the “Augsburg General” fears devastating consequences. “The scandal surrounding EU Parliament Vice-President Eva Kaili is shaking political Brussels. If the suspicion is confirmed, this not only means an immense loss of confidence for the MPs of all parties. It would be a catastrophe for the entire EU“, writes the newspaper. “As the custodian of Western values and the heart of European democracy, Parliament likes to emphasize how important human rights and the rule of law are. Europe’s representatives like the role of moralizing club, especially in the fight against corruption. They often have reason to do so. But the strongest The weapon becomes blunt if there is ‘gang corruption and money laundering’ in your own shop.
“The scandal is a warning shot for all parliaments – also for the German Bundestag, in which more lobbyists have an ID card than the parliament has MPs,” says the “Frankenpost”. “One of the achievements of democracy is that the elected representatives of the people can make their decisions freely. If they lose this ability – whether through political pressure, financial influence or threats of violence – democracy is in jeopardy.”
Great is also the horror of the “Sueddeutsche Zeitung”. “It could not have been worse for the EU Parliament. Because its sharpest weapon is actually morality,” says the comment. Parliament recently celebrated its 70th birthday, proud of its role as the only EU institution that is directly elected by the European people. It’s always allowed have not yet introduced their own laws.” In the current crisis situation, the Commission and the member states often ignore it. Parliament is all the more confident in its role as the guardian of true European values. The House also represents these values when it comes to abuses outside the EU – for example in a resolution that condemned the World Cup in Qatar as a disgrace. And now you suddenly get a sense of why some social democrats weren’t all that enthusiastic about this resolution.”
There are also fears that the role as a moral authority will no longer work out that well “Handelsblatt”. “The EU Parliament sees itself as a pioneer against bribery and corruptibility. For years, MEPs have been demanding that the Union take action against kleptocrats in their own ranks – especially against Hungary’s Prime Minister Viktor Orban, who is undermining the rule of law and fostering favoritism,” comments the Newspaper. Now, of all times, when the Commission is finally acting and is not paying out funds from the EU budget and the Corona reconstruction fund to Hungary due to a lack of rule of law standards, the corruption case is shaking Brussels. “Orban will find it easy to portray his critics as hypocrites. He could be the big beneficiary of the affair.”