13 March 2025, Brussels
Today’s new allegations of bribery at the European Parliament show how it has failed to learn any meaningful lessons from its previous corruption scandals. According to reporting, up to 15 former and current MEPs allegedly received gifts from Chinese tech giant Huawei, in the form of Huawei smartphones, football tickets or wire transfers, in exchange for taking political positions. This is wholly reminiscent of the to-date largest scandal to tarnish the European Parliament, 2022’s Qatargate. Here, MEPs allegedly took cash to launder Qatar and Morocco’s reputations at the European Parliament.
In response to that corruption scandal, the European Parliament had the chance to put into place wholesale ethics reforms: preventing its Members from accepting gifts, taking on lucrative side jobs, putting in place robust whistleblower protections, ending the revolving door for MEPs, and putting in place an effective sanctioning system. But instead of choosing meaningful change, MEPs instead opted to adopt weak and cosmetic reforms that would fail to prevent further corruption cases. This latest scandal can therefore come as no surprise.
Nicholas Aiossa, Director at Transparency International EU, said “These new allegations are as sweeping and serious as Qatargate and make a mockery of democracy at the European Parliament. For too long, MEPs have taken a carefree approach to ethics and continue to exist in a culture of impunity. If MEPs want to protect the integrity of the Parliament, they need to bring about swift, wide-ranging, and substantial ethics reform.”
The European Parliament must immediately investigate these allegations and fully cooperate with all law enforcement authorities.
For press enquiries, please contact EUPress@transparency.org.
