Irish Examiner view: EU must act to restore confidence

Qatar corruption

At a time when the World Cup host country is also at the centre of claims of human rights abuses and allegations of mistreatment of foreign workers, the emergence of claims the country was also trying to 'buy influence' in the European Parliament is extremely worrying on a number of fronts. Picture: AP Photo/Hassan Ammar, File

Qatari government denials that it is a malign global influence, after the uncovering of a corrupt and criminal attempt to bribe elected European parliamentarians and officials in Brussels, ring somewhat hollow given the evidence which has so far been uncovered.

A Belgian judge has charged four unnamed people with “participation in a criminal organisation, money laundering, and corruption” after a series of raids across Brussels in which an MEP was detained and €600,000 in cash was seized. The raids were part of an international investigation involving allegations against the Qatari state and EU representatives.

At a time when the World Cup host country is also at the centre of claims of human rights abuses and allegations of mistreatment of foreign workers, the emergence of claims the country was also trying to “buy influence” in the European Parliament is extremely worrying on a number of fronts.

At a time when democracies across the world are under threat and more in need of the confidence of their citizens in existing political systems than ever, that belief will only be severely eroded by accusations of grift and corruption.

On top of that, there are already enough political divisions within the EU to make people wary of the level of transparency they are being afforded when it comes to the honesty of their public representatives.

If individual countries have problems in that regard, then the issues are multiplied when it comes to the EU. As a global force for good the EU, its parliament, and its ancillary inner workings need to be seen to be above such ‘money for influence’ scams.

While the courts in Belgium will do their work in due course, the EU has to act quickly to restore public confidence. This is a scandal that has only just reared its head and, given the nature of these things, looks certain to get worse as more details are uncovered.

That being so, the EU needs to act quickly across all its institutions to ensure it operates only to the highest standards of independence and integrity, irrespective of the willingness of countries to pay to influence it.

Worldwide credibility is a hard-earned thing and the EU now has to prove it deserves such respect — not to mention the confidence of its own citizenry.