Friday

31st Mar 2023

MEPs vote to keep second jobs, protect Schulz

  • Around half of all MEPs have a second income, says Corporate Europe Observatory (Photo: European Parliament)

Efforts to ban side jobs for MEPs were scuppered on Thursday (28 April) when the European Parliament in a surprise move decided to axe any future vote on the issue.

MEPs voted to delete a paragraph calling for the ban as part of a much larger discharge report on how the EU parliament spent its money in 2014.

Read and decide

Join EUobserver today

Become an expert on Europe

Get instant access to all articles — and 20 years of archives. 14-day free trial.

... or subscribe as a group

Second or third jobs for MEPs have raised thorny conflict of interest issues between their duties as public lawmakers and their gainful employment in the private sector, on which they legislate.

"We believe that most industries have MEPs who are employed in one way or another by those industries, and we believe this is a conflict of interest," Green Hungarian MEP Benedek Javor, who wanted the ban imposed, told this website.

A last minute demand by the centre-right EPP group, with the backing of European Parliament president Martin Schulz, put the paragraph up for a vote.

The procedure was highly unusual.

The demand to vote on the paragraph was made after Tuesday's deadline to submit such requests.

"It was approved by president Schulz personally, that's how it came to the voting list today, which I believe is completely unacceptable," said Javor.

Three hundred and seventy nine MEPs voted to cut the text from the report against 209. The others abstained.

The deleted paragraph had asked for "a clear ban on members holding additional jobs or other paid work".

Spitzenkandidat

The vote came amid a Socialist-led effort to also muffle criticism against Schulz over allegations he used parliament resources during his campaign to become the president of the European Commission.

The campaign was part of the so-called Spitzenkandidaten process.

Before taking up his duties as parliament chief, Schulz was the party leader of the Socialist group.

The Socialists had tabled around a dozen amendments. Most were later withdrawn but three amendments, backed by the EPP, sailed through.

The three erased the most tricky questions over the affair.

The original text had asked Schulz to provide additional information on whether he had chartered private flights in the first six months of the election year.

That part was cut.

Text was also cut that asked Schulz to provide detailed information from 2012 on how he "has kept his duties in office separate from his preparations to head the Socialists and Democrats' list in the European elections, in particular with regard to the staff in his cabinet and in Parliament's information offices and to travel expenses".

The last joint amendment cut broader criticism over Schulz’s use of converting the Twitter official account of the “President of the European Parliament” into a personal campaign vehicle.

Asked to comment, a spokesperson from the Socialist group said they "thought attacks on Schulz were a bit unfair".

The Socialists said the amendments also dealt with wider issues on the Spitzenkandidat process.

"There were a lot of things that weren't very clear with the [Spitzenkandidat] rules, so we felt there was too much criticism of Schulz," he said.

Details

The president spokesperson, Armin Machmer, said Schulz had provided a detailed list of his travels and activities in full transparency, clearly differentiating parliament activities from campaign activities.

"In addition the president has voluntarily forfeited his daily parliament allowance during the election campaign," he said an email.

Machmer disputed the allegations about Schulz's Twitter account.

He said Schulz's personal account existed before his election as EP president.

"It was standard practice of those EP Presidents of the Twitter era to continue to use their established accounts," he said.

In addition to his personal account opened in 2008, Schulz has a second account, "@EP_President", opened in November 2013 before the last EU elections, which Machmer said "will be passed on to his successor".

Ethics drive at EU parliament hits a wall

Plans to increase transparency at the European Parliament have been postponed, in a move likely to result in weaker proposals when it goes to a vote.

Socialists dismiss EU parliament unity plea

Socialist leader Gianni Pittella rejects a call for continued cooperation from his centre-right counterpart, in a dispute that threatens the balance of power in the house.

Opinion

Biden's 'democracy summit' poses questions for EU identity

From the perspective of international relations, the EU is a rare bird indeed. Theoretically speaking it cannot even exist. The charter of the United Nations, which underlies the current system of global governance, distinguishes between states and organisations of states.

Opinion

Turkey's election — the Erdoğan vs Kılıçdaroğlu showdown

Turkey goes to the polls in May for both a new parliament and new president, after incumbent Recep Tayyip Erdoğan decided against a post-earthquake postponement. The parliamentary outcome is easy to predict — the presidential one less so.

Latest News

  1. EU to press South Korea on arming Ukraine
  2. Aid agencies clam up in Congo sex-for-work scandal
  3. Ukraine — what's been destroyed so far, and who pays?
  4. EU sending anti-coup mission to Moldova in May
  5. Firms will have to reveal and close gender pay-gap
  6. Why do 83% of Albanians want to leave Albania?
  7. Police violence in rural French water demos sparks protests
  8. Work insecurity: the high cost of ultra-fast grocery deliveries

Stakeholders' Highlights

  1. EFBWWEFBWW calls for the EC to stop exploitation in subcontracting chains
  2. InformaConnecting Expert Industry-Leaders, Top Suppliers, and Inquiring Buyers all in one space - visit Battery Show Europe.
  3. EFBWWEFBWW and FIEC do not agree to any exemptions to mandatory prior notifications in construction
  4. Nordic Council of MinistersNordic and Baltic ways to prevent gender-based violence
  5. Nordic Council of MinistersCSW67: Economic gender equality now! Nordic ways to close the pension gap
  6. Nordic Council of MinistersCSW67: Pushing back the push-back - Nordic solutions to online gender-based violence

Join EUobserver

Support quality EU news

Join us