Friendship groups are at the backdrop of the corruption scandal that is rocking the European Parliament. The investigation unit of Radio France investigated with the Belgian newspaper “Le soir” on one of these organizations whose role may be similar to lobbying.
One of the first concrete effects of Qatar-Moroccogate was the abolition of friendship groups within the European Parliament. MEP (socialist passed to La République en Marche) from 2009 to 2019, Gilles Pargneaux chaired the European Union-Morocco friendship group during his two terms. His name resurfaced in the press, on the sidelines of this corruption scandal. “He was not ashamed to present himself as personal adviser to His Majesty the King”affirms the former Portuguese deputy Ana Gomès who rubbed shoulders with him within the socialist group.
>> SURVEY. How Qatar and Morocco infiltrated the European Parliament
“He was almost ambassador – without the title – of Morocco, and he was very proud of it”confirms an elected French socialist. “I never presented myself as Her Majesty’s adviser, replies Gilles Pargneaux, who explains himself publicly for the first time since the affair broke out. I have never seen His Majesty King Mohamed VI. I’ve never met him personally.”
“I did not defend the interests of Morocco. I was the president of the European Union-Morocco friendship group… which was not a group of enmity.”
Gilles Pargneauxat franceinfo
When we meet him in an opulent hotel in Lille, the man does not hide the personal link that unites him to Morocco: married to a Franco-Moroccan, he received in February 2013 the equivalent of the Moroccan Legion of Honor “on the high instruction of His Majesty Mohammed VI”. “Morocco must have an increased presence” in the European Parliament, he explained at the time. Leaked Moroccan diplomatic documents indicate that the Moroccan authorities appreciated his action and his positions. “I am delighted, replies Gilles Pargneaux. This means that, in the eyes of the Moroccans, we were doing a facilitator’s job which seemed efficient to them. This role has also been underlined by representatives of the European Union.”
“I got screwed”
In 2017, Gilles Pargneaux also took part in a debate in the European Parliament, in the presence of Kaoutar Fall, the general manager of a Moroccan lobbying agency expelled seven months later by the Belgian authorities who consider her “actively involved in intelligence activities for the benefit of Morocco”. “I was fooled, in good faith, explains Gilles Pargneaux. She had asked me to sponsor her. I contacted the ambassador of the Kingdom of Morocco to the European institutions. He told me that there was no problem with her and that he himself would participate in her conference.”
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In 2018, Gilles Pargneaux created the Euromeda Foundation, with the Moroccan Mohamed Cheikh Biadillah (elected to the House of Councilors in Morocco and president of the Morocco-European Union parliamentary friendship group) and the Frenchman Alain Berger from the lobbying firm Hill & Knowlton . “We were recognized as being of public utility by royal decree in August 2018 and simply organized two meetings that year in connection with the Moroccan think tank Policy center for the New South”justifies Gilles Pargneaux.
“I made an administrative error by putting Euromeda’s head office at the same address as Hill & Knowlton, explains Alain Berger for his part. I changed it after three months. We said to ourselves that there was a need for a foundation to improve the relationship between Africa and Europe with a particular Moroccan pivot. The purpose of this foundation was not to influence European politics, but to find aid projects in Africa with training programs, twinning, exchange of materials and the training of women imams.” For the NGO Western Sahara Resource Watch (WSRW) based in Brussels, on the other hand, Euromeda is similar to a lobbying structure in favor of Morocco.
“The concept was supported by a number of Moroccan personalities. But it was never encouraged by the Moroccan government.”
Alain Bergerat franceinfo
“It had nothing to do with wanting to be Morocco’s lobbyists,” also asserts Gilles Pargneaux, who specifies that “since 2019, the Foundation has been put on hold” lack of financial partnerships.
At the end of 2018, the Foundation was splashed by the forced resignation of French MEP Patricia Lalonde, author of a report on the trade agreement between the EU and Morocco. She had been criticized for her work deemed biased in favor of Rabat, after traveling to Morocco and Western Sahara in September 2018 with two other MEPs.
The Moroccan police roadblock
“The program for this mission was quite dubious, testifies the Finnish MEP Heidi Hautala who was present on the spot. Morocco clearly wanted to show that the local population derives great benefits from trade agreements with the European Union. We were treated to a totally one-sided presentation of things. There was absolutely no question in our program of meeting the independent human rights organizations representing the Sahrawi people. When I wanted to meet them, the Moroccan police blocked them.”
But above all, the press will reveal that, while being a MEP, Patricia Lalonde was on the board of Euromeda. “I did not know at the time that she had gone with a delegation of deputies to the Sahara”explains Gilles Pargneaux, stating that the European Parliament’s ethics committee concluded that there was no breach of the code of good conduct. “Her report was good, but faced with pressure from members of the Sahrawi intergroup, she resigned. As president of the foundation, I was the victim of a cabal”deplores the former Renaissance MEP.
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Beyond the case of Patricia Lalonde, the former Portuguese socialist MEP Ana Gomès believes that certain trips at the time were also problematic. “It seemed clear that they were not being paid by Parliament, says Ana Gomès. These were trips that were suitable for Morocco and involved going to fantastic hotels. Several times, Gilles Pargneaux asked me why I didn’t come.”
“I have never offered Ms. Gomès to come as part of a friendship group trip. And I have always respected the rules laid down by the European Parliament”answers Gilles Pargneaux who says he wants to sue the former MEP.
“The trips were financed from our allowances and declared publicly. They were business trips, political trips. No personal trips.”
Gilles Pargneauxat franceinfo
He adds : “Of course, we were welcomed by the Moroccan authorities for accommodation. But we were not in five-star hotels.”
Third-party funded travel is still allowed
This question of the financing of MEPs’ travel remains unresolved in Parliament since travel financed by third parties is still authorised… provided that it is declared. Speaker of Parliament Roberta Metsola, herself pinned down for an undeclared trip to Israel, is not currently proposing to fundamentally change the system, after denouncing “an attack on European democracy” during the revelation of the corruption scandal concerning its vice-president, Eva Kaili. As for any gifts received by the Moroccan authorities, Gilles Pargneaux assures us that he has in all and for all received “four or five courtesy presents, less than 150 euros”the legal limit set by the European Parliament.
The former MEP now works for a consulting firm in France (P&B Partners) and as a “senior advisor” at Hill & Knowlton which he says has worked for Morocco twice “in 2011 and 2016”. “It is perhaps a pledge of recognition of my professional activity”comments the former MEP. “The context of our mission was to redress the disastrous image of Morocco, after the attacks, with European and Belgian institutions. Our contract was signed with the Moroccan ambassador to the EU. Then the Moroccan authorities decided to working with another agency”explains a source within Hill & Knowlton.
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