Agreement between the European Parliament, the Council, the European Commission, the Court of Justice of the European Union, the European Central Bank, the European Court of Auditors, the European Economic and Social Committee and the European Committee of the Regions, establishing an Interinstitutional Body for Ethical Standards for Members of Institutions and advisory bodies mentioned in Article 13 of the Treaty on European Union

Tabled by Antonio Maria Rinaldi, Gerolf Annemans, Gilles Lebreton

9. Believes Removed: the body should rely on the existing powers of institutions to ask their members for information or on the agreement of national authorities to share information; believes that the independent experts should be able to exchange information with national authorities where necessary for the performance of their tasks, while treating such information with the same confidentiality as the originating authority did; stresses in this regard that the independent experts should have access to the administrative documents of participating parties, especially the party consulting them on a case, Added: that, in order to Removed: allow them to carry out well-reasoned and well-documented assessments; Added: prevent the repetition of episodes such as Qatargate, there is no need for an ethics body such as the one being proposed, but rather for the proper application of the Institution's internal rules and compliance with the law; recalls that, in any case, the conduct concerned was criminal and not merely "unethical" in nature and, therefore, the presence of an ethics body would not have prevented its occurrence; reiterates, for this reason, the need to establish a committee of inquiry to shed light on the political responsibilities resulting from the corruption affair and from the involvement of political figures in this Parliament;

Wording as published by the EP, in English. PE762.578