The European Parliament is facing calls to plug a loophole in its members’ code of conduct that allows Roberta Metsola to refrain from declaring any conflicts of interest.
The pressure comes in the wake of a damning report published by Politico on Wednesday which argued that ethics rules requiring top European Parliament officials, including vice-presidents and quaestors, to declare conflicts of interest applied to everybody but Metsola herself.
The report argues that this allowed the role of Metsola’s husband Ukko – the vice-president of the Royal Caribbean Group, one of the world’s top cruise line companies and a registered EU lobbyist - to go “largely unnoticed”, even on the rare occasions where she issued public statements about the maritime industry.
Why the rules don’t bind Metsola to declare conflicts of interest in the same way as other top EU officials is unclear.
A spokesperson for the EP told Times of Malta that “the President has always followed all Parliament’s rules on declarations, and conflict of interest rigorously, both in the spirit and the letter of the rules,” insisting that her husband’s employment “is neither new nor has it been revealed today”.
Metsola, the spokesperson said, “has always used her office for the sole reason of representing the interests of the European Parliament. Parliament refutes, in the strongest possible terms, any conjectures alleging otherwise”.
Rules drafted by MEPs, EP says
What’s more, the spokesperson said, the ethics rules were drafted and approved by MEPs, not Metsola herself.
But Metsola appears to have had few qualms in taking credit for the reforms, introduced in the wake of the Qatargate scandal that rocked the European Parliament early in her mandate.
In early January 2023, she posted to X, saying that she had presented “a set of proposals to reform, re-build and re-affirm the European Parliament as a modern and open institution”.
The 14-point plan was eventually adopted later that year, pledging to introduce improved rules on declarations of conflict of interest. and giving authorities greater powers to decide “whether MEPs with conflicts of interest should hold specific positions”.
While the loophole does not mean that either Metsola or her husband engaged in any improper behaviour or sought to inappropriately influence legislation in any way, transparency watchdogs told Politico that “there’s no reason why President Metsola — or any president — should be exempt from filing such a declaration”.
Reacting to Politico’s report, PL MEP Alex Agius Saliba said that he would be requesting action during a meeting of the S&D group.
Previous accusations of ‘nepotism’
This is not the first time that Metsola has faced criticism linked to a potential conflict of interest.
Just last week, she came under fire for appointing her brother-in-law, Matthew Tabone, as her head of cabinet, with Agius Saliba, amongst several others, describing the appointment as a case of “rampant nepotism”.
Tabone, who married Metsola’s sister in 2015, two years after joining her office, was initially touted for the role in 2022, but it eventually went to Spaniard Leticia Zuleta de Reales Ansaldo.
Ansaldo’s predecessor, Italian Alessandro Chiocchetti, was named the EP’s secretary-general upon leaving Metsola’s office, amidst accusations of cronyism and horse-trading designed to win support for Chiocchetti.
Chiocchetti was elected after two S&D members allegedly broke ranks with their political group to back his nomination.
Bringing the matter full circle, one of the rebel S&D MEPs, Greece’s Eva Kaili, was arrested by Belgian police on corruption charges just a weeks later, sparking the Qatargate scandal that would eventually inspire the EP’s code of conduct reforms.