Corruption: Excessive fight against corruption harms the economy
Under the guise of the fight against corruption, the EU institutions are continuing their course of damage to the European economy. Surveillance, prosecution and punishment are becoming commonplace means of an overpowering police state structure.
On Wednesday May 3rd 2023, four European Commission vice-presidents appeared before the press to outline their ideas and plans for fighting corruption in the EU. According to Věra Jourová, corruption is like a cancer eating away at the Union from within. Jourová is responsible for a stronger Europe in the world. But what she presented with Josep Borrell, Margaritis Schinas (promoting the European way of life) and Ylva Johansson (home affairs) may do more harm than good to Europe.
New CFSP sanctions regime
Commission President Ursula von der Leyen announced in her State of the Union address last autumn that she intended to tackle corruption head-on. Her cabinet is parrying and putting proposals on the table one after the other. Wednesday's statement reads: "The package presented today includes new and strengthened rules criminalising corruption offences and harmonising sanctions across the EU, as well as a proposal by the High Representative, supported by the Commission*, to establish a specific sanctions regime under the Common Foreign and Security Policy (CFSP) to target serious acts of corruption worldwide."[1]
Josep Borrell presented at the press conference [2] a proposal to establish a new CFSP sanctions regime, targeting serious cases of corruption worldwide. This would allow the European Union to ban perpetrators of corruption from travelling to the European Union in the future, freeze the assets of perpetrators in the European Union and prohibit anyone in the EU from making funds and economic resources available to perpetrators.
The EU is thus strengthening its surveillance apparatus - in addition to measures against money laundering. The High Representative was kind enough to point out at the end of his press release that the EU proposal still needs to be approved by the EU Member States. Indeed, Member States are expected to then implement the measures or risk EU legal proceedings.
Combating foreign interference
In the face of the growing superstructure of the police state, resistance is now growing. On May 3rd, 2023, around 230 civil society organisations also sent a statement to the President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen. In it, they strongly criticise the draft laws on "foreign influence". The online platform Euractiv writes: "The European Commission is expected to propose a new 'democracy defence package' later this month, which will present a series of reforms to increase transparency in the EU institutions and fight foreign interference in the wake of the Qatargate corruption scandal."[3]
The EU executive has not yet published a proposal in this sense, but in recent months it has launched a call for comments from civil society organisations.
It is worth remembering that it was the Commission that took Hungary to court over a similar domestic law. Is it the response of EU elites to growing problems at home to systematically isolate themselves from the outside world by means worthy of a police state? Are we trying to partition the internal market in a protectionist way under the guise of fighting corruption? A politically sound system has its own control mechanisms and is able to constantly renew itself from within. This is clearly less and less the case with the European institutions. However, the surveillance, prosecution and sanction measures announced every week are primarily detrimental to the European economy and the international integration of the Member States. Let us keep this in mind!