New codes of conduct delayed

Date: 23/11/1995

By Rory Watson

ANGER is growing among MEPs at an unexpected delay in agreeing new rules on their own outside interests and the behaviour of lobbyists.

The European Parliament is breaking new ground with the twin regulations. The first aims to answer criticism that the current register of MEPs' interests contains too many loopholes, while the second establishes clear standards for the growing army of consultants who target Euro MPs.

But the political sensitivity of the initiatives, and the opposition of some members to the requirement to declare their movable and non-movable property, are unexpectedly delaying attempts to bring greater order to the Parliament's internal affairs.

Proposals for the two sets of regulations were agreed by the European Parliament's rules committee at the end of September, and supporters of the move had hoped they would be discussed and approved at the December plenary session. But the item has not been included in the draft agenda for the session published this week.

MEPs championing the measures are likely to make a last attempt in the next few days to persuade leaders of political groups to ensure the proposals are dealt with before the end of the year and applied early in 1996.

“There really is no reason for a delay. You gain nothing from it in the end and it makes people outside wonder whether you have anything to hide. But the issue is very delicate as it affects the statute of members,” said one parliamentary source.

The report on members' interests has been prepared by French Liberal MEP Jean-Thomas Nordmann and the report on lobbyists by British Socialist Glyn Ford.

According to one MEP, the demands being made in the Nordmann report have provoked an uproar within his own Liberal political group - a factor which helps explain the delays.

Dutch Liberal MEP and vice-president on the rules committee Florus Wijsenbeek explained: “We said that if we are going to impose rules on outsiders, we should do the same on ourselves. To some extent, the Ford report is a victim of our wish to keep the two together.”

He believes a way can be found to calm the fears of members who feel that the information they are being asked to supply publicly, including addresses of any property they own, is an invasion of privacy and could pose threats to their security.

“I would suggest an amendment whereby MEPs would still have to give all the information requested. But I would suggest that access to it be more restricted so that if someone wanted to consult it, the quaestors (the parliament's business managers) would first have to vet it,” he said.

The draft report attempts to reassure MEPs by suggesting that efforts would be made to ensure the register of interests would be available to the public in such a way as to prevent its use for terrorist activities or other crimes.

Under the Nordmann proposals, MEPs would have to declare for the first time all payments received for professional and other activities and gifts above a certain value received in connection with their mandate. These details would include the name of the donor. The statement would also contain details of investment funds, shares, bonds and property owned and be updated annually.

The Ford proposals, if eventually adopted as they stand, will shed greater light on the activities of lobbyists and their relationship with MEPs. Lobbyists will be given passes for a year containing their own name and that of their firm. Not only will they have to agree to a set of guidelines, but also complete a register listing “any benefits, subsidies, gifts or services of any nature rendered to members, officials or assistants with a value in excess of 1,000 ecu per beneficiary per calendar year”.

The rules would, for the first time, specifically prevent MEPs' assistants from representing or defending any outside interests.

Ford says: “Only by putting this on the agenda will people make an effort to become acquainted with it.”

British Socialist MEP Richard Balfe, one of the parliament's quaestors who will implement the new rules, is satisfied with the proposal on the table.

“I am confident that when the Parliament passes it, I will be able to say to my colleagues and to staff here that the system works. I want rules that are transparent and out in the open,” he says.

The new broom follows the decision earlier this year to tighten up the allowances to which MEPs are entitled. These involved a cut back in taxi expenses and the abolition of the 1,000 ecu a year available for the purchase and running costs of information technology equipment.

Travel expenses were frozen at 1994 levels. For official parliamentary meetings within the Union, they total .76 ecu per kilometre for the first 400 kilometres of each return journey and .38 ecu thereafter. Outside the Union, costs are reimbursed on the basis of the most direct return flight. A further 3,000 ecu is available per year for travel as an MEP to conferences other than official parliamentary meetings.

Members also receive a daily allowance of 213 ecu when involved on parliamentary business within the Union, 3,009 ecu per month to cover office running expenses, and up to a further 8,000 ecu per month to employ one or more assistants.