'Voorgestelde regels Europarlementariërs te soepel' (en)
EUOBSERVER / BRUSSELS - Proposed rules to ensure that MEPs disclose how much they earn from second jobs make little distinction between high and low earners, and also place MEPs from newer member states at a disadvantage
This is according to the latest text to be discussed by members of a ten-man working group on Tuesday afternoon (28 June), set up by European Parliament President Jerzy Buzek i in the wake of the recent Sunday Times cash-for-amendments scandal.
The meeting is likely to be the last before the group publishes its final proposals, which must then be approved by senior parliamentary officials and political group leaders, before being put to a vote by the full plenary of MEPs.
Strongly supported by pro-transparency groups, the issue of increased financial disclosure has so far met with strong opposition from within Buzek's working group, especially from centre-right European Peoples' Party and European Conservatives and Reformists (ECR) members.
The latest draft however, seen by EUobserver, calls for MEPs to disclose how much they earn from each job in addition to their well-paid parliamentary salaries.
But the broad income categories and rules which allow euro-deputies to simply refer to additional revenue streams as nondescript "activities" enable high-earning MEPs to hide behind others who make an extra couple of thousand euros a year, say critics.
Under the draft text, all additional incomes must be placed under one of three categories, the first being: "up to three times the average income in the member state in which the activity is carried on [sic]".
The system would allow a German MEP, for example, to earn €120,000 from a single additional job and remain in category one, while a Romanian MEP, whose average national income is much lower, would have to earn substantially less to stay in the same band.
In comparison to the proposed system for MEPs, members of the Dutch national parliament are required to disclose exactly how much they earn for additional, clearly specified jobs.
A senior parliamentary source said the system clearly showed "the extent to which certain MEPs and officials in the parliament are disconnected from reality."
"Europe is in a deep economic crisis, and yet the lowest category where a member of parliament will have to declare earnings from a second job would be up to three times the average income of a EU citizen. Which of course is outrageous."
Since the Sunday Times revelations earlier this year, in which the newspaper claimed four MEPs were willing to accept money in exchange for tabling parliamentary amendments, many have called for an outright ban on paid second jobs for MEPs.
But the idea has found very little support among euro-deputies, keen to protect their revenue streams.
The conclusion of the working group's deliberations comes as a new report by pro-transparency group Corporate Europe Observatory (CEO) sheds light on lobbying activities linked to the EU's raw materials strategy, due to be voted on in parliament's industry committee this Thursday.
The strategy, published by the commission in February, has received criticism and praise for its attempts to loosen mining restrictions in environmentally-sensitive areas inside the EU, as well as guarantee EU access of supply to minerals in Africa, for example.
"Our research found that some MEPs are blatantly pushing their own vested interests and the interests of big business in promoting an EU resource grab around the world," said Pia Eberhardt, the report's author.
"They have argued that business must be able to access other countries' natural resources, regardless of the rights of sovereign peoples, or measures to protect the environment and advance economic development."
The document is especially critical of Austrian MEP Paul Rubig, "who has financial interests in companies which depend on access to raw materials", as well as German MEP Elmar Brok, who "urged the use of military means to secure access to raw materials", CEO said in a statement.