European Parliament to Politico: The “forgotten” gifts did not go to Metsola, but to the institution

The European Parliament issued a statement giving his own answer to Politico for the “forgotten” gifts where were found in the possession of President Roberta Metzola.

According to the announcement, these are gifts that went to the institution of the president of the European Parliament and not things that she personally received.

“The President did not “forget” to declare giftsbecause the deadline of one month does not apply to the President, as well they are not given to her as an MEP but as a representative of the institution. As the representatives of the Parliament explained to Politico, all gifts from all the Presidents of the EP are always received by the holder of the position on behalf of the institution and never in his personal capacity”, it is characteristically mentioned for the publication that spoke of “champagnes and chocolates’ which were declared late.

He also states that “it is important to note that these are not gifts to parliamentarians but protocol gifts, most of which are exchanged with third countries or other authorities following established protocol practice. Also, there are no “undeclared gifts”, all gifts to the institution have been declared internally and are owned by the institution, not by the President.”

“The Presidents it is customary to declare the gifts en masse in the registry at the end of their term and due to recent developments, the President has decided to change this tactic, declaring the gifts as soon as possible to increase transparency and avoid any doubts. It should also be noted that certain protocol gifts received by the Presidency on behalf of the institution are regularly exhibited to visitors to Strasbourg and are included, where appropriate, in the institution’s artistic collection,” he adds.