Petri Sarvamaa is unfit to be a Member of the European Court of Auditors

The Fidesz Delegation in the European Parliament has written to the President of the European Parliament and the European Court of Auditors (ECA) regarding the political and public activities of Finnish MEP Petri Sarvamaa, a candidate for the ECA, which raise serious ethical concerns. In their letter, MEPs Tamás Deutsch and Kinga Gál warned that the Finnish MEP goes beyond the bounds of “political differences”. His activities are clearly aimed at causing unjustified and disproportionate damage to a Member State, threatening to cut off EU funds and voting rights, and throwing around the Nazi narrative analogy, all based on unfounded and biased political opinions.  Fidesz MEPs asked the leaders of the EU institutions to review how the destructive and biased political activities of this Finnish MEP meet the criteria of independence, transparency and objectivity required for candidacy, in order to preserve the authority of the EU institutions.

In their letter to President of the EP Roberta Metsola and President of the European Court of Auditors Tony Murphy, Kinga Gál and Tamás Deutsch recall that on 22 November 2023, the European Parliament supported by a large majority the nomination of MEP Petri Sarvamaa as a Member of the European Court of Auditors. In the declaration of candidacy, the Finnish MEP named transparency, independence and objectivity as the cornerstones of his political career, which he intends to pursue one hundred percent during his membership of the European Court of Auditors. However, the political and public activity of their fellow MEP Sarvamaa in recent weeks raises serious questions as to the suitability of his candidacy and the credibility of his declaration of independence and objectivity.

After becoming a candidate, in January 2024, he sent a letter to the European Parliament, seeking for the voting rights of one Member State to be suspended on the basis of biased and unfounded political opinions. This initiative not only fails the standards of independence and objectivity, but also undermines the very foundations of trust and cooperation between the institutions of the European Union and its Member States, by using the institution of the European Parliament for partisan political purposes, to inflict biased damage on one Member State. He did this after the European Commission gave the green light for Hungary to start receiving EU funds in December 2023, after Hungary successfully met the Commission’s condition for doing so.

 “Mr Sarvamaa’s recent interview with Hungarian RTL television is a clear example of his bias. In this interview, he claims nothing less than that the Fidesz narrative is similar to that of the Nazis. In our view, Mr Sarvamaa has, with this statement, removed himself from consideration as a serious, civilised public figure and became unworthy of holding any responsible European office”, the MEPs underlined.

In order to preserve the credibility of the EU institutions, Fidesz MEPs call on the heads of the institutions to review how the political activity of this MEP meets the criteria of independence, transparency and objectivity required for candidacy.