Last week the Transparency International’s EU office was back among the bankers at the European Commission’s Group of Experts on Banking Issues (see previous post here). Quite a lot has happened since that February meeting. Most importantly, Transparency International’s EU Office decided to become a founding member of Finance Watch a new Brussels-based civil society body that will […]
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Will EU politicians deliver on code of conduct promise?
The March 2011 cash-for-amendments sting operation, in which several European Parliament members (MEPs) were caught accepting bribes from undercover journalists posing as lobbyists, exposed glaring holes in the current European Parliament (EP) rules of procedure concerning poor ethical guidance, weak sanctions, lax rules on interest declarations and blurred, non-transparent operating procedures. These are the areas we wish […]
Emissions trading and bribery investigations in Slovakia
Last month Transparency International warned that 28 OECD countries were not doing enough to investigate and prosecute alleged company bribery of foreign government officials. Emilia Sičáková-Beblavá from Transparency International Slovakia writes about one of these cases in the report, which shows how the wide impact of bribery includes efforts to tackle climate change. This year […]
What’s going on in the EU hood? Aid linked to democratic reform
Today the communication on the revision of the European Union’s Neighbourhood Policy (ENP Review) was unveiled by the European Commission and High Representative… finally. We at TI-EU welcome the proposal which places a stronger focus on democratisation and the fight against corruption in the context of a changing neighbourhood.
Speed-dating EU transparency: EU Parliament hearing on access to EU documents
European Parliament (flickr) / Creative Commons BY-NC-ND 2.0 Sitting in Wednesday’s EU Parliament hearing on the topic of access to EU documents and freedom of information felt a little like policy speed dating. 15 external speakers and more short interventions from Members of the European Parliament (MEPs) – although embarrisingly few MEPs were present in the […]
Thoughts on civil society involvement, scandals, and the next EU elections
Earlier this year we presented our analysis on transparency in the financing of Europarties to the European Parliament – see the blog post and the discussion paper thereon. When we presented this expertise in Parliament, several deputies reacted offended by the link we drew between political finance and corruption, as if such could not happen in EU politics. […]
Mind the gap! MEPs must tighten up their act
Picture: stevecadman (flickr) || Creative Commons BY-SA 2.0 Recent allegations that three Members of the European Parliament (MEPs) accepted the promise of payments to table amendments on behalf of individuals posing as a ‘lobbying firm’ must instigate strong reforms at the European Parliament. It is far more difficult to investigate and successfully prosecute allegations of […]
EU citizens need to know their rights to fight corruption!
On Friday, the European Ombudsman asked the question “Is the Lisbon Treaty delivering for citizens?” We here at the Transparency International EU office (‘TI EU’) indeed think that the Lissbon Treaty could deliver for citizens if the European Union (EU) were to implement a comprehensive EU information campaign on citizens’ fundamental rights. The Ombudsman has […]
EU budget transparency: Advocating better rules and practices
Transparency of the EU budget and its spending is of great importance for public control of the European Union, its institutions and bodies and the tens of thousands of beneficiaries of EU funds. Without knowing where EU money is spent and who receives it for what purposes, the prevention of misuse of EU funds, including […]
EU bank emerges from the shadows: EIB meets with civil society
Traumatised by voter rejection in a series of referenda, EU institutions are full of existential dread about the relevance of their mission to that mythical beast ‘the European citizen’. Consequently ‘engaging with civil society’ has become the platitude du jour of eurocrats, with even those working on the most arcane technical briefs pushed blinking into the sunlight of public scrutiny.
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