Former MEPs hunting for jobs: What are the EU's 'revolving doors' rules?

After a few weeks of summer break, MEPs are back in Brussels, reviewing their files and attending back-to-work meetups.

Others who lost their seats in the June elections might be starting a new job in the EU bubble.

But what rules apply to them?

Following the so-called Qatargate, a political scandal that came to light in 2022 involving MEPs and lobbyists who allegedly received funds from the governments of Qatar, Morocco and Mauritania to promote their interests, the European Parliament has toughened its rules on transparency and integrity.

Former MEPs are now prohibited from conducting lobbying activities at the Parliament for six months following the end of their mandate. For those who lost their seats in June, this cooling-off period is still ongoing.

For Transparency International, a six-month cooling-off period is not long enough and amounts to "window dressing".

"It was just to add something because we all know that in the first six months of mandate, there is basically nothing that is going on. The committees still need to be created. There is little legislative activity", Shari Hind, policy officer on EU political integrity at Transparency International, told Euronews.

She claims this hold on activities should be equivalent to the period during which MEPs receive their transitional allowance,* which is paid by taxpayers' money anyway.

"The transitional allowance lasts between five and 24 months, depending on the length of service. So we would think that the best period of time during which having this cooling-off period should be equivalent to the transition allowance," Hind said.

Once this period has elapsed, former MEPs must list their lobbying-related activities on the EU Transparency Register like everyone