EU lawmakers converge on the bloc's parliament rocked by a new cash-for-influence probe in their midst -- and at loggerheads over efforts to bolster ethical safeguards at the heart of Europe.

The plenary session in Strasbourg, France comes just weeks after offices were sealed and five people charged over suspicions that members of parliament were bribed to sway sensitive EU policies in favour of Chinese tech giant Huawei.

Daniel Freund, a transparency campaigner turned lawmaker for Europe's Greens, said his first thought on hearing of the arrests was "Oh, not again!"

The European Parliament has been tarnished by a drip-drip of scandals over the years, with lawmakers still smarting from the biggest in decades, the 2022 "Qatargate" case, which is winding through the Belgian courts.

"I fear that we still haven't done enough," Freund told AFP, to "send a very clear signal that this place is free of corruption, and that if you are corrupt, you're going to get found out, and you're going to get very severely punished". 

The murky picture is all the more harmful as the EU seeks to challenge democratic backsliding from Turkey to Hungary and assert itself as a bulwark against the might-is-right worldview of US President Donald Trump.

In a statement to AFP, the bloc's ethics watchdog said the succession of scandals "damage public trust in the EU".

"It is important that citizens see that genuine efforts are made to prevent such situations reoccurring," warned the European ombudsman, Teresa Anjinho.

Lawmakers are to confront the Huawei allegations at a debate on Monday on "transparency and anticorruption policies in the EU" -- which is expected to see calls for tougher action, and a fair share of finger-pointing too.

'Impunity'

Belgian judicial authorities have been proactive about rooting out criminal activity in EU institutions. But there remains a so-called "grey area" of practices that -- without breaking laws -- can fall well short of transparency.

"The EU parliament brings together elected officials from 27 different countries with very different political cultures," summed up Olivier Hoedeman of the Corporate Europe Observatory (CEO) campaign group.

"You need to make sure that you don't get the worst of the worst -- but the best of the best, in the common culture," he said.

Parliament brought in tougher rules in the wake of Qatargate to help shield high-stakes EU decisions on everything from tech to trade and defence from undue influence.

These include disclosing side incomes and interactions with lobbyists or third countries, and guarding against "revolving doors" with the private sector. 

The catch? They rely on self-policing -- which Freund says lets a "culture of impunity" continue unchecked.

"So MEPs 'forget' to declare substantial income, or an invitation to a Michelin starred restaurant", without "any kind of sanction", he said.

Hopes rose after a common ethics body was agreed in early 2024 to help with enforcement and boost accountability across EU institutions -- but it has become bogged down in a political fight and has yet to start work.

'Crusade'

The new body was opposed from the get-go by the centre-right European People's Party (EPP), parliament's biggest group, which says its ability to dig into individual cases will lead lawmakers to be smeared without due process.

After last June's elections saw parliament shift right, the EPP -- with support from hard-right factions -- is accused of hitting the procedural brakes to stop the body from getting up and running.

Valerie Hayer, head of the centrist Renew group, told AFP that the EPP was waging a "crusade against the ethics body".

"They are using flimsy arguments to resist finally addressing the unspeakable grey areas," charged Hayer -- an accusation echoed by the Socialists and Democrats, the Greens and The Left.

The EPP denies obstruction, but spokesperson Daniel Koster confirmed it considers the ethics body "an extra-judicial committee to punish MEPs" that would not "tackle the problem".

"The police and the judicial system should do their work," he said.

Questioned on the standoff, the ombudsman took care not to apportion blame -- but warned that the delay "may send an unfortunate message about how the EU institutions deal with integrity issues".

"This body is an opportunity to set high standards -- this opportunity should not be missed," Anjinho told AFP.

Parliament authorities, meanwhile, say they are "fully cooperating" with the Huawei probe, which has ramifications in Belgium, Portugal, France and Italy where an aide to an EPP lawmaker has been arrested.

Twenty people are charged in the "Qatargate" case, in which EU lawmakers were accused of taking huge bribes to promote the interests of Qatar and Morocco -- something both countries deny -- but the case is weighed down in legal challenges with no trial in sight.

By Emma Charlton