- Discord seen as online home for renegades
- US forecasts severe solar storm starting Thursday
- Ratan Tata: Indian mogul who built a global powerhouse
- One dead as storm Kirk tears through Spain, Portugal, France
- Indian business titan Ratan Tata dead at 86
- Fed minutes highlight divisions over rate cut decision
- Steve McQueen debuts new WWII film at London festival
- Nobel winners hope protein work will spur 'incredible' breakthroughs
- What are proteins again? Nobel-winning chemistry explained
- AI steps into science limelight with Nobel wins
- Overshooting 1.5C risks 'irreversible' climate impact: study
- Demis Hassabis, from chess prodigy to Nobel-winning AI pioneer
- Global stocks diverge as Chinese shares tumble
- Time runs out in Florida to flee Hurricane Milton
- Chad issues warning ahead of more devastating floods
- Creator's death no bar to new 'Dragon Ball' products
- Chinese stocks tumble on lack of fresh stimulus
- Trio wins chemistry Nobel for protein design, prediction
- Braving war: Lebanon's 'badass' airline defies odds
- US weighs Google breakup in landmark trial
- Chinese stocks tumble on stimulus upset, Asia tracks Wall St higher
- 7-Eleven owner confirms new takeover offer from Couche-Tard
- A US climate scientist sees hurricane Helene's devastation firsthand
- Can carbon credits help close coal plants?
- Boeing suspends negotiations with striking workers
- 7-Eleven owner's shares spike on report of new buyout offer
- Your 'local everything': what 7-Eleven buyout battle means for Japan
- AI-aided research, new materials eyed for Nobel Chemistry Prize
- The US economy is solid: Why are voters gloomy?
- Scientists sound AI alarm after winning physics Nobel
- Nobel-winning physicist 'unnerved' by AI technology he helped create
- Trump secretly sent Covid tests to Putin: Bob Woodward book
- Neural networks, machine learning? Nobel-winning AI science explained
- Boeing delivers 27 MAX jets in September despite strike
- Stock markets diverge as Hong Kong sinks, oil prices fall
- US trade gap narrowest in five months as imports slip
- Stay and 'you are going to die': Florida braces for next hurricane
- Geoffrey Hinton, soft-spoken godfather of AI
- Duo wins Physics Nobel for 'foundational' AI breakthroughs
- German 'Maddie' suspect could be free in 2025 after cleared of separate sex crimes
- China slaps provisional tariffs on EU brandy imports
- Duo wins Physics Nobel for key breakthroughs in AI
- German 'Maddie' suspect could be free soon after cleared of separate sex crimes
- China says to take anti-dumping measures against EU brandy imports
- China stocks rally fizzles on stimulus worries amid Asia retreat
- China stocks rally peters out on stimulus worries amid Asia retreat
- Taiwan's Foxconn says building world's largest 'superchip' plant
- Nobel literature jury may go for non-Western writer
- From Bolivia to Indonesia, deforestation continues apace
- China holds off on fresh stimulus but 'confident' will hit growth target
EU parliament head publishes list of gifts
The speaker of the European Parliament, Roberta Metsola, has disclosed the many gifts she has received on behalf of the institution in the past year, as the scandal-hit institution seeks to rebuild credibility.
The European Union assembly has been rocked by a graft scandal that broke last month involving MEPs allegedly taking cash bribes to defend the interests of Morocco and Qatar.
Metsola has promised more transparency and accountability, and this week vowed to impose new rules to tackle foreign corruption.
Among Metsola's long list of gifts published on the parliament's website are a dried sausage, champagne, a scarf, books, chocolates and a blue statuette of a sheep.
The gifts were registered in a public document published on January 12, 2023.
However, internal rules stipulate that elected representatives must declare gifts by the end of the month following the month in which they received them.
"There are no 'undeclared gifts'. All gifts made to the institution have been declared internally and are kept by the institution, not by the president," parliament spokesman Jaume Duch told AFP.
"The unprecedented transparency on publicly declaring the institutional gifts initiated by president Metsola aims to improve the existing practice on these institutional gifts."
- 'Broken system' -
Alberto Alemanno, EU law professor at HEC Paris Business School, said on Twitter: "The EU Parliament President, being the sole enforcer of ethics rules under the current system, must be exemplary in her conduct.
"Yet another story showing a pattern of misconducts making her culturally and politically unfit for the job of fixing Qatargate," he added.
Nicholas Aiossa, of NGO Transparency International, welcomed Metsola's and other elected members' moves to reveal gifts and travel but said they "speak to a broken system".
"The issue is that there are rarely sanctions given for not adhering to the rules," he told AFP.
"We need ethical rules that are written down and not based on tradition."
Individuals caught up in the corruption scandal include Greek socialist MEP, Eva Kaili, who was one of Metsola's vice-presidents at the time of her arrest in December.
The measures Metsola announced on Monday include restricting parliamentary access for former MEPs; registering outside individuals who lobby, meet or speak at the parliament; a public MEPs' registry of gifts and travel received; and punishment for breaches.
P.Gonzales--CPN