On top of salary, MEPs can claim €9,500 a month in expenses and allowances without providing receipts. They may hold other paid jobs and need not publicly register contacts with agents of foreign states.
Parliament has resisted stronger accountability rules while built-in protections for internal whistleblowers are lacking...
[S]ome British MPS… say they followed UK parliamentary rules in accepting a total of £251,208 worth of gifts from Qatar in the year to October, including luxury hotels and business-class flights, while participating in “fact-finding” missions. Several spoke up for Qatar in subsequent debates. This may be legal. But how do they think it looks?