In an interview, a French politician sharply criticised the fact that while the judiciary is moving forward after the lifting of the immunity of politicians involved in the Brussels corruption scandal, the political response is at a standstill with no progress on transparency reforms.

As the corruption scandal in Brussels is ballooning, the judiciary is doing its job, but political action is stalled and no progress is being made, French MEP Manon Aubry told Radio France Internationale (RFI) in an interview.

It is regrettable that the groups in the European Parliament, as well as the EP president, are trying to bury all the reforms that were previously announced to bring full transparency regarding the corruption scandal, the leftist politician said.

Ms Aubry recalled that in December, parliamentary groups and the EP president said that corruption was intolerable and democracy was not for sale, but after a few weeks, all promises were swept under the carpet, as were reforms to be introduced to ensure transparency.

Malgré le #QatarGate, toutes les réformes promises pour lutter contre la corruption au sein des institutions 🇪🇺 sont enterrées.

Les mêmes qui disaient „la démocratie n’est pas á vendre” en décembre bloquent maintenant toutes les mesures de transparence !pic.twitter.com/XlYusqaqSm

— Manon Aubry (@ManonAubryFr) February 6, 2023

The European Commission president has also set aside several proposals, including the obligation to keep a transparency register of who meets whom and when, the introduction of legislation to follow up amendments tabled in the European Parliament, as well as the setting up of a special committee to investigate failings by the European Parliament, the leftist politician pointed out.

In an interview last December, Manon Aubry, MEP of the left-wing France Unbowed party and co-leader of the Left group in the European Parliament, told the newspaper France Info that a thorough clean-up and investigation in all 27 EU member states is needed in order to put an end to corruption and expose related violations. It’s not just a few isolated cases occurring, but there is a whole network that needs to be unraveled, Manon Aubry pointed out.

An independent investigative committee, an ethics authority, should be set up to investigate in detail the corruption taking place at European level, the French politician said. A complete overhaul and transparency are needed because the intricate web of corruption that exists could undermine the credibility of European democracy, Ms Aubry argued.

The politician pressing for transparency is only doing so to a certain extent

In mid-December, the EP debated a resolution related to the corruption scandal engulfing Brussels, with the Identity and Democracy group calling on all MEPs to disclose without delay

any ties to, or benefits from, Qatar or the NGOs involved, as well as past meetings with representatives and officials of Qatar.

However, the motion on strict transparency requirements was not adopted. Only 204 MEPs voted in favour of greater transparency, while 326 voted against it, including Manon Aubry.