Is the credibility of European institutions at stake?

euronews (in English)

To improve the reputation of European institutions, an inter-institutional ethics body has been set up and Parliament's Rules of Procedure have been amended. However, experts claim this is not enough.

Transcript

00:00 Democracy, the rule of law and fundamental rights are core values of the European Union

00:08 that have been shaken over recent years. In 2022, members of the European Parliament were

00:14 accused of being involved in a cash for influence corruption scandal which allegedly implicated

00:20 Qatar, Morocco and Mauritania. Fast forward 15 months, the European Parliament filed a

00:25 lawsuit against the European Commission over the release of frozen funds to Hungary, a

00:30 country it claims failed to meet standards of judicial independence set out in the EU

00:35 treaties.

00:36 I see a lot of complacency in the European political class all across the political spectrum

00:45 from the right to the left in which people running for elections say, well, the European

00:51 citizens have probably forgotten about this. And I don't believe so. I think there is something

00:57 very profound that has to be attached to the Qatargate and several other little or smaller

01:04 scandals that have occurred since then, suggesting that there is a culture of impunity within

01:09 the institutions.

01:13 As the European elections approach, the credibility of the European institutions has come under

01:19 closer scrutiny. According to the latest Eurobarometer poll, the second biggest threat to democracy

01:28 for people across the bloc is the growing distrust and scepticism towards democratic

01:33 institutions. However, the destabilization of democratic processes by threats such as

01:40 cyber attacks was the biggest concern for only 9% of respondents.

01:44 I would say they should live up to the values and standards that they ask of the 27 member

01:48 states when it comes to rule of law, when it comes to integrity of public institutions,

01:53 when it comes to ethics. And they haven't done so. There is an unfortunate double standard

01:58 between the Commission and Parliament and the member states on the standards that they

02:04 ask when it comes to these issues and the standards that they place on themselves. And

02:08 until that discrepancy is balanced or addressed, then the credibility will continue to wane

02:14 in the eyes of voters towards the institutions.

02:17 [WHOOSH]

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