Approximately 30% of the 720 members of the European Parliament earn a total of over 6.3 million euros per year in additional income, in addition to their salary as MEPs. The highest earnings from other activities are obtained by a Romanian representative.
The analysis published on Thursday by the non-governmental organization Transparency International EU in Brussels shows that several Members of the European Parliament work for lobbying groups in agriculture, automotive consultancy, and major financial groups – blurring the lines between public and private interests, writes Euronews.
Leading the list is Gheorghe Piperea, who represents the European Conservatives and Reformists Group in the Brussels legislature, with approximately 657,000 euros per year in external sources, mainly from the law firm he founded.
Piperea's additional income is more than twice that of the next MEPs on the list, French doctor Laurent Castillo (231,633 euros) and Italian Roberto Vannacci (200,000 euros), whose political volume "Il Mondo Al Contrario" ("The World in Reverse") has proven to be a surprising and apparently profitable success.
MEPs are allowed to have income outside their allowance, but they must declare it publicly, according to rules that were strengthened after the Qatargate influence trafficking scandal.
For Transparency International, the level of earnings of European MPs is not as worrying as their potential to interfere with the work in the European Parliament.
"MEPs are not allowed to carry out paid lobbying activities" in accordance with the Parliament's internal regulations, said Raphaël Kergueno, a policy officer at the organization. However, the ambiguity of this rule means that "it remains up to each politician to say whether there is a conflict of interest or not," he added.
T.D.