The European Union has been creating a stronghold on transparency, democracy and the fight against corruption for years. Meanwhile, subsequent scandals exposure the actual face of this bureaucratic device – corrupt, politically dependent and profoundly ineffective. The fresh scandal that the media have already baptized as HuaweiGate shows to what degree the European institutions have ceased to service – even those that have been called up to combat abuse.
European Anti-Fraud Office (OLAF, p. L’Office européen de lutte antifraude), an office set up by the European Commission on 28 April 1999, is theoretically intended to combat corruption, fraud of the Union budget and smuggling of cigarettes and alcohol. OLAF besides has the powers of taxation supervision, acting both within EU structures and in the associate States. Moreover, this office, at least in theory, operates independently of the European Commission and another EU structures, with the exception of the peculiar Control Committee, composed of 5 experts appointed for 3 years by the European Parliament, the Commission and the EU Council.
However, it should be recalled that OLAF was under strong force from the European Parliament, which did not hide its discontent with the work of the erstwhile anti-corruption body - UCLAF (Unité de coordination de lutte anti-fraude) straight subordinate to the European Commission. UCLAF did not manage to detect and combat corruption within EU structures, which is why a deep improvement was needed. Today, after more than 2 decades, the question is increasingly raised: is OLAF truly performing its function, or is it simply a political smokescreen?
Recent events have led to serious doubt. OLAF refused to initiate an investigation into the corrupt links between Euro MPs and the Chinese technological giant Huawei. All this despite the fact that Belgian law enforcement authorities have collected adequate evidence to arrest suspects and conduct a large-scale investigation. The manager of OLAF, Ville Itälä, explains his decision without “specific” premises in the 2022 notification. It is hard to supply a more grotesque explanation, given the escalation of the scandal, detention, charges and hard evidence provided by Belgian prosecutors.
According to investigators, a group of Euro MPs – including the largest political factions, the European People's organization (EPP) and the Socialists (S&D) – were to accept illegal payments in exchange for signing a letter to the European Commission promoting the interests of Huawei in the context of the implementation of 5G technology in Europe. The financial scams were camouflaged by false invoices and Portuguese bank accounts. The amounts amounted to thousands of euros – almost EUR 15 000 for the author of the paper and EUR 1 500 for each additional signatory.
OLAF, which receives more than 4,000 complaints each year, justifies its inactivity as an alleged mediocre evidence quality report. But since the case was serious adequate to initiate police action and make detentions in Belgium, how did it not rise any interest in an institution that should be the first line of defence against corruption in the EU?
Organisations specified as Transparency global indicate that OLAF was straight informed of the case and had access to further material. Meanwhile, manager Itälä calls for "peace" and "trust in the system" – which, in the light of the escalation of the investigation, sounds like a bad joke.
One must not forget that this is not the first specified scandal. Qatargate, Moroccogate – all these scandals show that Euro-Parliamentarians of different options accept bribes with equal ease, which then hide behind immunity and EU bureaucracy. The allegations against socialist MEPs, and now besides representatives of the EPP, uncover how deep the systemic problem is.
Marine Le Pen is right to accuse European institutions of selectiveness and political prejudice in conducting investigations. The European lawyer General Laura Codruța Kövesi, who publically accused OLAF of having no effective cooperation with the European Prosecutor's Office (EPPO), goes further. This is simply a public war between institutions that should work together to clear Europe of pathology.
The Belgian investigation is progressing, while before our eyes there is simply a drama - not only individual abuse, but systemic collapse of trust in the European Union as a project. alternatively of being an example to the world, the EU is becoming a symbol of bureaucratic rot, political kunktatory and the impunity of the elite.
Does anyone else believe that this Union is truly fighting corruption?
