Tiny for Anti-Corruption Day: Protect the EU’s financial interests and deal with the Social Democratic corruption scandal

2023-12-09 11:15:06

Do not use EU funds against EU values/More transparency and control mechanisms for EU funding to NGOs

Brussels (OTS) – “We must better protect the EU’s financial interests. We work together across Europe to prevent corruption and other criminal activities. Especially when it comes to dealing with our citizens’ tax money, the EU must set the best example. This starts with controlling EU spending. So that no one who acts against our interests and values ​​can benefit from funds from the European budget,” says Angelika Winzig, ÖVP delegation leader in the European Parliament, on the occasion of today’s International Anti-Corruption Day.

Today also marks the anniversary of the Social Democratic corruption scandal, the so-called Qatargate scandal. The Greek Socialist MEP and former Vice-President of the European Parliament, Eva Kaili, the Belgian MEP Marc Tarabella and the former Italian MEP Antonio Panzeri, as well as their staff and their families, are said to have been influenced and bribed by the governments in Qatar, Morocco and Mauritania.

“But even today the accused go in and out of the European Parliament as if nothing had happened. There have been no charges yet,” explains Winzig, pointing out that the corruption scandal also needs to be dealt with elsewhere: “Non-governmental organizations (NGOs) were used as hubs for corruption and money laundering during Qatargate. We therefore need more effective rules to prevent any organization from abusing access to the EU institutions to influence EU decision-making. That’s why we need higher transparency requirements for EU funding to NGOs in order to make them more publicly understandable.”

“According to the report on the protection of the EU’s financial interests, fraud cases totaling 1.77 billion euros of EU funds were detected by the authorities in 2022. Our goal is for this number to become significantly smaller. On the one hand, we can achieve this through greater digitalization of the fight against fraud. On the other hand, it is clear that we can only effectively prevent and combat corruption if we further tighten our control mechanisms for EU spending,” Winzig concludes.

Questions & Contact:

Dr. Angelika Winzig MEP, Tel.: [phone],
[e-mail]
Helena Ringer, EPP Press Service, Tel.: [phone],
[e-mail]

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