Members of the European Parliament have taken “second jobs” to an art form. According to the Financial Times, 59 MEPs are moonlighting in roles related to policy areas they legislate on, with only eight of them actually declaring any potential conflicts of interest. Brussels sleaze alert…
While the European Parliament technically bans “paid lobbying activities,” it still allows MEPs to work for organisations on the official lobby register, and helpfully doesn’t actually forbid conflicts of interest. The FT found more than two dozen MEPs working on files that appear directly related to their side gigs…
One example is German MEP Axel Voss, who leads negotiations on privacy complaint laws enforcing the EU’s GDPR, while also sitting on the data privacy board of Deutsche Telekom as a paid adviser. A European Parliament spokesperson insisted that “transparency was significantly reinforced.” Yet Transparency International’s Raphaël Kergueno argued “MEPs have had numerous chances to change the system, but they’ve decided not to do this. It’s only a matter of time until we get to the next scandal.” And Starmer still wants to cosy up to the Bloc…
