Declarations of financial interests are a means of making
conflict of interest
A conflict of interest (COI) is a situation in which a person or organization is involved in multiple interests, financial or otherwise, and serving one interest could involve working against another. Typically, this relates to situations i ...
s
of people in public office known and to reduce them by making them public.
European Parliament
Members of the European Parliament
A Member of the European Parliament (MEP) is a person who has been elected to serve as a popular representative in the European Parliament.
When the European Parliament (then known as the Common Assembly of the European Coal and Steel Commu ...
(MEPs) are required to declare their financial interests or assets that could create a situation of conflict in the performance of their duties.
As in a majority of the Member States, Members of the European Parliament have an obligation to declare their financial interests at the moment of taking office as well as orally when a Member has an interest in one of the issues being debated at a sitting.
Members of the European Parliament are also required to update their declaration of financial interests every year. Their declarations are included in the public register kept by the Quaestors. The register is public and may be consulted by anyone in Parliament's three places of work (
Strasbourg
Strasbourg (, , ; german: Straßburg ; gsw, label=Bas Rhin Alsatian, Strossburi , gsw, label=Haut Rhin Alsatian, Strossburig ) is the prefecture and largest city of the Grand Est region of eastern France and the official seat of the Eu ...
,
Luxembourg
Luxembourg ( ; lb, Lëtzebuerg ; french: link=no, Luxembourg; german: link=no, Luxemburg), officially the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg, ; french: link=no, Grand-Duché de Luxembourg ; german: link=no, Großherzogtum Luxemburg is a small lan ...
and
Brussels
Brussels (french: Bruxelles or ; nl, Brussel ), officially the Brussels-Capital Region (All text and all but one graphic show the English name as Brussels-Capital Region.) (french: link=no, Région de Bruxelles-Capitale; nl, link=no, Bruss ...
) via the
Internet
The Internet (or internet) is the global system of interconnected computer networks that uses the Internet protocol suite (TCP/IP) to communicate between networks and devices. It is a '' network of networks'' that consists of private, pub ...
on the MEP's page in the online register.
In vote on March 11, 1999, about the report A4-0070/99 (Corbett, Gutiérrez Diaz, Palacio Vallelersundi) was adopted, numerous changes to the Rules of Procedure of the European Parliament designed to enable Parliament to adjust to the workings of the
Amsterdam Treaty
The Treaty of Amsterdam, officially the Treaty of Amsterdam amending the Treaty on European Union, the Treaties establishing the European Communities and certain related acts, was signed on 2 October 1997, and entered into force on 1 May 1999; i ...
have been adopted:
MEPs voted to tighten the rules relating to the declaration of financial interests. The rule thus stipulates that the names of members who have not completed the register within the due time limit will be published in the minutes after due warning. The rule then goes on to state ''"if the member continues to refuse to submit the declaration after the infringement has been published,The President shall take action in accordance with Rule 124 to suspend the member concerned."''
The original proposal to oblige members to declare all benefits above .100 was not approved, but another amendment designed to exclude members not completing the register from office in the Parliament did go through as did the amendment obliging chairmen of
intergroup Intergroups are formed of Members of the European Parliament from any political group and any committee, with a view to holding informal exchanges of views on particular subjects and promoting contact between Members and civil society.
Intergroups ...
s and other unofficial grouping to declare all forms of financial or secretarial support.
External links
Annex I of the Rules of Procedure of the EP regarding Provisions governing the application of Rule 9(1) on Transparency and Members' financial interests{Dead link, date=July 2019 , bot=InternetArchiveBot , fix-attempted=yes which provides for members to be suspended if they refuse to submit their declaration after a request procedure.
Rules of conduct for MEPs
Personal finance
European culture