84,092 of 100,000 signatures

To the European Parliament

Petition

We urgently need a full enquiry into the Qatari corruption scandal and stricter rules to fight corruption and bribery in Europe.

Why is this important?

‘Bags of cash’ have been found at the homes of four European politicians. [1] They’ve allegedly been paid hundreds of thousands of euros to do the bidding of the Qatari government. If true, this is one of the biggest lobbying scandals in European history.

This corruption scandal is only possible because the European rules on lobbying are lax and outdated. [2]

The Qatari bribery scandal must be a wake-up call. The credibility of the whole European Union is at stake.

Unless we change the rules of the game, this could happen again and again. We urgently need a full inquiry into the scandal and stricter rules to fight corruption and bribery.

There’s a massive power imbalance at the heart of Europe that favours lobbyists over citizens groups like ours. We know for example that 75% of all Commission meetings are with corporate lobbyists - and this is not even counting representatives of repressive regimes like Qatar. [3]

But right now we have a unique opportunity to re-write the rules of the system. The scandal is driving massive media attention and all eyes are on Brussels. This is our chance to call for more transparency and better rules. [4] We need to get money out of politics and give more power back to ordinary people like you and me. But we won’t get there unless we make a lot of noise now.


References:

  1. https://www.politico.eu/article/european-parliament-under-attack-roberta-metsola-police-launch-fresh-raids-qatar-corruption-scandal-eva-kaili-socialist-democrats-ursula-von-der-leyen-visentini-giorgi-panzeri-margaritis-schinas/
  2. https://www.euronews.com/my-europe/2022/12/12/calls-for-eu-lobbying-rules-to-be-reformed-grow-as-corruption-scandal-rocks-brussels
  3. https://transparency.eu/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/Lobby-Meetings-European-Commission.pdf
  4. https://www.alter-eu.org/sites/default/files/documents/open%20letter%20kaili%20corruption%20scandal_151222_0.pdf
  5. https://corporateeurope.org/en/2022/12/how-close-door-repressive-regime-lobbying

Tweet to Pernille WEISS, Romana TOMC, Milan ZVER, Franc BOGOVIČ, Ljudmila NOVAK, Maria Da Graça CARVALHO, Lídia PEREIRA, Nuno MELO, Cláudia MONTEIRO DE AGUIAR, Paulo RANGEL, José Manuel FERNANDES, Isabel WISELER-LIMA, Christophe HANSEN, Christian SAGARTZ, Lukas MANDL, Angelika WINZIG, Ausschuss für Industrie, Forschung und Energie, Simone SCHMIEDTBAUER, Barbara THALER, Othmar KARAS, Ausschuss für Industrie, Forschung und Energie, Alexander BERNHUBER, Ausschuss für Umweltfragen, öffentliche Gesundheit und Lebensmittelsicherheit, Andrius KUBILIUS, Liudas MAŽYLIS, Aušra MALDEIKIENĖ, Rasa JUKNEVIČIENĖ, Ivan ŠTEFANEC, Vladimír BILČÍK, Miriam LEXMANN, Peter POLLÁK, David CASA, Roberta Metsola, President of the European Parliament, Tomáš ZDECHOVSKÝ, Stanislav POLČÁK, Michaela ŠOJDROVÁ, Luděk NIEDERMAYER, Jiří POSPÍŠIL, Riho TERRAS, György HÖLVÉNYI, Ioan-Rareş BOGDAN, Vasile BLAGA, Cristian-Silviu BUŞOI, Eugen TOMAC, Traian BĂSESCU, Mircea-Gheorghe HAVA, Dan-Ştefan MOTREANU, Daniel BUDA, Gheorghe FALCĂ, Gheorghe-Vlad NISTOR, Loránt VINCZE, Marian-Jean MARINESCU, Siegfried MUREŞAN, Iuliu WINKLER, Sandra KALNIETE, Dace MELBĀRDE, Inese VAIDERE, Sunčana GLAVAK, Željana ZOVKO, Tomislav SOKOL, Karlo RESSLER, Frances FITZGERALD, Maria WALSH, Seán KELLY, Deirdre CLUNE, Katalin CSEH, Anna Júlia DONÁTH, Urmas PAET, Andrus ANSIP, Yana TOOM, Elsi KATAINEN, Mauri PEKKARINEN, Nils TORVALDS, Karen MELCHIOR, Asger CHRISTENSEN, Morten Helveg PETERSEN, Morten LØKKEGAARD, Vlad GHEORGHE, Dacian CIOLOS, Alin MITUȚA, Ramona STRUGARIU, Dragoş PÎSLARU, Vlad-Marius BOTOŞ, Dragoş TUDORACHE, Emma WIESNER, Abir AL-SAHLANI, Karin KARLSBRO, Ivars ĪJABS, Petras AUŠTREVIČIUS, Valter FLEGO, Irena JOVEVA, Klemen GROŠELJ, Michal ŠIMEČKA, Lucia ĎURIŠ NICHOLSONOVÁ, Michal WIEZIK, Martin HOJSÍK, Claudia GAMON, Ausschuss für Industrie, Forschung und Energie, Charles GOERENS, Monica SEMEDO, Dita CHARANZOVÁ, Ondřej KNOTEK, Martina DLABAJOVÁ, Martin HLAVÁČEK, Ondřej KOVAŘÍK, Billy KELLEHER, Barry ANDREWS, Jörgen WARBORN, Sara SKYTTEDAL, Jessica POLFJÄRD, Arba KOKALARI, Tomas TOBÉ, David LEGA, Petri SARVAMAA, Henna VIRKKUNEN and Sirpa PIETIKÄINEN

It’s been 9 months since the biggest corruption scandal in European history. Politicians promised reforms and more transparency. But now some are backing out!

We can’t let that happen.

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It’s been 9 months since the biggest corruption scandal in European history. Politicians promised reforms and more transparency. But now some are backing out!

We can’t let that happen.

Can you contact your MEP in your country and ask them to pass tighter regulation on lobbying?

Follow the simple instructions below and if you need some inspiration we have suggested some talking points.

  • Be personal: we know personal messages are more impactful.
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Talking points:

  • The Qatargate corruption scandal should be a wake-up call that we need better rules to fight corruption and achieve more transparency
  • The European elections are coming up - to restore our trust in politicians we need sweeping reforms and more transparency!
  • We want an end of the culture of impunity - there need to be sanctions for politicians who break transparency rules!
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