Some corruption channels present in the EP are able to operate undisturbed for years, causing enormous damage to the European public (and budget). Qatargate has also grown out of corruption disguised as lobbying activity, which has now been given a new twist with the police occupation of the Huawei headquarters.
On 13 March, Belgian authorities searched Huawei headquarters (and several EP offices) at more than 20 addresses in connection with Huawei’s illegal lobbying activities. Several people were detained and two offices in the EP building were closed. According to the statement of the authorities, the above was carried out due to an ongoing investigation, in a corruption case. As in the Qatargate scandal, similar corruption allegations have emerged in the current Huawei case – accepting high-value gifts, travel, and football match tickets in exchange for political advocacy.
One of the closed offices belonged to Adam Mouchtar (assistant to the Bulgarian MEP Nikola Minchev), who was the founder of the EU40 group. And the president of the EU40 group was none other than Eva Kaili, one of the key figures of Qatargate. Even if we assume in good faith that there is no connection between the cases and the participants, the phenomenon itself can still be markedly demonstrated: the EP has not been able to find a real answer to curb the corruption spreading among MEPs. Let us remember that Roberta Metsola, who is a declared champion of transparency and anti-corruption, herself got involved in a dubious case in connection with her husband. Despite this, he still played a leading role in the exposure of Qatargate, after which he also promoted anti-corruption reforms.
Therefore, it is interesting that the European People’s Party (of which Metsola is also a member) is constantly delaying the establishment of a new body to control MEPs, and recently together with the far-right groups, they voted down the proposal to allocate €110,000 for this purpose. Despite the fact that Huawei has been expelled from both the EP and the Commission, it seems that systemic anti-lobbying and anti-corruption measures are still to be taken in the EU institutions.
In its 2024 report, Transparency International states that at the EU level, the control mechanisms over lobbying activities are promising on paper, but unfortunately they do not work at all in practice due to various shortcomings and loopholes, which can be exploited by both actors inside and outside the EU. Systemic solutions are still to come, but this depends only on the attitude of the elected representatives, and on us Europeans, how long we keep them in position.
Translated and edited by Hans Seckler