The opacity of Roberta Metsola on the activities of your lobbyist husband arouses suspicion in Brussels. The Maltese are said to have benefited from an “exception” in the ethical code approved by the European Parliament after the outbreak of the crisis. Qatargateas indicated Policyone of the most influential media in the community capital. A reform that requires senior officials of the European Parliament to declare everything conflict of interestincluding “those that affect your family, your emotional life or your economic interests.” But this demand for transparency leaves out the highest boss: the president herself.
Thanks to this exception, Metsola did not have to publicly declare that her husband, Ukko Metsolais the main lobbyist in the EU of Royal Caribbean Group, the world’s second largest cruise line and therefore a very polluting company. The result is that Ukko’s work has gone virtually unnoticed, even though worked to influence Community environmental legislationwhich is finally signed by the President of the European Parliament, states Policy.
“The President of the Parliament, Roberta Metsola, forget to declare that her husband is a lobbyist for a large polluting company.How can we aspire to transparent institutions? if their leaders exempt themselves from the rules they impose? “These are not rules of variable application!”, deplored the co-president of the Left group in the European Parliament, Manon Aubrywhich belongs to La Francia Insumisa.
[La Eurocámara reelige a la maltesa Roberta Metsola como presidenta por mayoría aplastante]
“The problem is that, according to the rules, the president is exempt from declaring this type of possible conflict of interest. The reform of the ethics code that was made last year It is insufficient and has a hole that needs to be closed“, explains Nick Aiossa, director of the European office of Transparency International, to EL ESPAÑOL. Furthermore, the European Parliament does not prohibit these conflicts of interest but limits itself to establishing transparency obligations, which, in his opinion, is not enough to guarantee the integrity of the institutions.
“The Metsola exception boils down to granting her husband unlimited access to power, the most valuable (marketable) currency in Brussels,” writes Alberto Alemanno, professor of Community law at the Escula de Estudios Superiores de Comercio in Paris.
The office of Metsola categorically denies any irregularity or opacity in her husband’s activities. “The president has always rigorously followed all the rules of the Parliament regarding declarations or conflicts of interest, both in the spirit and in the letter of the rules,” her spokesman, Jüri Laas, told EL ESPAÑOL. The so-called “Metsola exception” was drafted by the Constitutional Affairs Committee and approved in plenary and does not constitute a capricious decision by the president, he adds.
“The work of the President’s husband is not new and has not been revealed now. It has been duly registered and made public in the EU Transparency Register. The President has always used her position for the sole purpose of representing the interests of the European Parliament. refutes, in the strongest possible termsany conjecture to the contrary,” the spokesman said.
Metsola’s own husband spoke to Policy and argues that the couple has built a kind of A “Chinese wall” to prevent conflicts of interest. Since Roberta was elected president in January 2022, he has stopped doing entrance hall directly on MPs “to avoid even the perception of irregularities.” In fact, Royal Caribbean hired an additional person to interact with Parliament.
As part of their efforts to separate their professional lives, the Metsolas agreed that The president would not make any public statements on the maritime industry. “Even before my wife became president, as a member of the European Parliament for more than 11 years, she never said anything about shipping, let alone cruise ships,” Ukko said. PolicyHowever, this publication assures that Metsola has broken this promise twice, the last time in 2022.
The President of the European Parliament, who belongs to the family of European People’s Partyhas become one of the most influential leaders in the EU. Her image as a young, dynamic woman and her ability to building bridges and generating consensus earned him an overwhelming majority for his re-election last July: 562 of the 623 votes cast, or 90% of the total, the highest support in history. In Brussels, rumors are circulating that her next aspiration would be to become Prime Minister of Malta. The controversy surrounding her husband’s activities is casting the first shadows on her career.
