The European Parliament has today approved additional responsibilities of the special INGE committee on foreign interference and disinformation. The special committee – founded two years ago at the initiative of the Socialists and Democrats – will work to strengthen the integrity, transparency and accountability of the European Parliament.

According to the new mandate, until the summer, the INGE committee will identify the shortcomings in the European Parliament’s rules on transparency, integrity, accountability and anti-corruption, and will issue recommendations for reforms, building on the best practices in other parliaments and institutions.  

Raphaël Glucksmann, Chair of the special committee on foreign interference in all democratic processes in the European Union, including disinformation, said: 

“Our democracy is not for sale. Today’s vote shows that the European Parliament is committed to reinforcing the rules on transparency, integrity and accountability.

“For more than two years, within our special committee, we have been analysing and alerting about the ever more forceful and sophisticated foreign interference by autocratic regimes. The recent revelations of corruption and foreign interference in the European Parliament have illustrated how pervasive and corrosive the attempts to influence European democracies are.

“The time has come to change the rules and to make sure that our institutions are more transparent and better protected. The so called "Qatargate" is a terrible wake-up call and we will not sweep the problems under the rug."