MEPs hustle too! Just not in the way we want them to.
Lead Members of the European Parliament (MEPs), <a href=”https://www.ftm.eu/articles/european-parliamentarians-involved-in-hundreds-of-scandals?share=XxRp%2BPyg0HiXuQgolZEjEbz6KYu5by7FbhIzXDb7p1cxhMWQPkSkNC5v8trYWH0%3D” style=”text-decoration: underline !important;”>no strangers to scandal, find themselves under scrutiny again. This morning, Transparency International EU released its Integrity Watch EU report, which looks closely at MEPs’ side activities and income outside of their Parliamentary mandates.
Overall, some two-thirds of the Parliament’s 705 members declared some form of side engagement, with a quarter of all members earning outside incomes – six MEPs even earn more from their side jobs than the €120,000 they make in Parliament!
MEPs in right or centre-leaning political groups are more likely to have (high-paying) side jobs than those on the left, and 40 MEPs have gigs with entities registered on the EU Transparency Register, a database of organisations that lobby the EU.
Pia Engelbrecht-Bogdanov, spokesperson for Transparency International explains that ”“While technically not illegal, shining a light on these second jobs matters because we can’t be sure that our representatives do what they are elected to do if they’re torn between their own activities and the public interest.”
That’s why Transparency demands that all side activities be banned entirely, whether paid or unpaid. The anti-corruption watchdog also calls on the European Parliament to implement stricter reporting requirements and more robust checks on its members’ declarations. “Simply put, this is not the private sector,” concludes Engelbrecht-Bogdanov. “It’s a question of trust and accountability.”