MEPs scramble to ‘hush up’ £100m fraud that makes Conway scandal “look like small change”
21 February 2008
There is widespread coverage of new revelations of massive fraud at the European Parliament. The Telegraph notes that senior MEPs and European Union officials have tried to hush up an internal audit that found serious and endemic misuse of funds worth at least £98.4 million a year, more than £125,000 for each of the 785 MEPs. “Such is the extent of the abuse found in a sample group of 167 Euro-MPs that ‘terrified’ parliamentary authorities have shrouded the report in secrecy and security” notes the article. The newspaper reports that Harald Rømer, the Secretary-General of the European Parliament, was asked late on Monday night by Hans-Gert Pöttering, its President, and a group of senior MEPs, to take measures to ensure that there was no "collateral damage" from the report. "We want reform but we cannot make this report available to the public if we want people to vote in the European elections next year," said a source close to the decision.
Only MEPs on the Parliament's Budget Control Committee were allowed to see the report. To do so, they must apply to enter a "secret room", protected by biometric locks and security guards. They may not take notes, are put under surveillance and must sign a confidentiality agreement. A spokesman for the Parliament denied a cover-up: “The document is not secret. It is confidential." One member of the committee, Liberal Democrat MEP Chris Davies, who saw the report, said: "This report is dynamite - and makes the Derek Conway affair at
Each MEP is given about £130,000 a year to pay the salaries and social security costs of employing assistants. MEPs are supposed to use an established payment system, which involves appointing a “service provider” — a professional accountancy firm or other professional book-keeper — to handle all cash destined for parliamentary staff. But the system is easily circumvented according to the report. One source who read the report said: "Some service providers simply do not exist. Others are individuals that work for or are dependent on the Euro MP." PA notes that MEPs family members were often used as service providers.
Mr Davies said: "Maybe when some MEPs are named, exposed for defrauding the European Parliament and the public, and are sent to prison a more acceptable approach will be adopted."
MEPs vote to give themselves more power
MEPs have voted strongly in favour of the EU's Lisbon Treaty. Dan Hannan MEP reports on his blog that after MEPs approved the Treaty, “The chamber, needless to say, burst into thunderous applause. Euro-MPs love to be told that they speak for the people. It makes them feel better about the fact that the people keep voting ‘No’… if nothing else, the episode demonstrates the utter illegitimacy of the European Parliament.”
EU using beef import barriers to buy support for
EUobserver reports that the recent EU decision to ban Brazilian beef imports will help to secure a ‘yes’ vote in this summer’s referendum in Ireland on the Lisbon Treaty. The article notes that “Irish beef farmers have been up in arms about imports of Brazilian beef to the EU… But a recent EU decision to ban beef from the South American country has been welcomed by farmers, still seen as a significant force in Irish society - and a force that the government would like to have behind the EU treaty.”
Lib Dems to ‘constructively abstain’ on referendum
Writing on the Spectator Coffee House blog, Fraser Nelson reports that in the Commons yesterday, Lib Dem MP Ed Davey was asked to clarify whether his colleague Lembit Opik is right to claim that he is not a rebel for planning to abstain on a referendum because abstention is now the Lib Dem position. Nelson writes, that in response “Davey cryptically said that we will have to wait and see – and said that one option open to them was ‘constructive abstention,’ whatever that is. Answer: no one in that disorganised party has the faintest idea what their policy is. They can’t even decide if they will sit on a fence.”
Government facing defeat on temps rights: 250,000 jobs on the line
The FT reports that the
It also reports that, should the EU directive go through, the UK could be even worse off than other Member States affected by the law: “ministers say that EU rivals would be able to opt out of the provisions through collective bargaining agreements that were not be available in the UK.”
Stop Blair campaign strengthens?
The Mail reports that Tony Blair's chances of becoming the first EU President looked increasingly slim last night as German Chancellor Angela Merkel expressed unease at the appointment. Merkel was said by an EU official "to be against" and an EU ambassador added that although Mrs Merkel admired Mr Blair, there was "great surprise" in
However, Ben Brogan writing on his blog for the Mail, reports that Hans-Gert Poettering, the President of the European Parliament, has requested a meeting with Blair and will be joining him – and wife Cherie Blair - for breakfast at Claridge's next Wednesday. Poettering is in
Writing in the Spectator, Rod Liddle condemns the Government for reviving the rejected EU Constitution. He argues that the Government’s approach has been to “ram a European constitution down the throats of the British people, against their clear wishes. He adds that “We are aware now, had we ever been in any doubt, that the Lisbon Treaty was precisely a constitution in everything except name.”
Miliband denies EU 'power creep'
The Mail reports on the debate on the foreign and security aspects of the Lisbon Treaty in the Commons yesterday, in which David Miliband insisted that the EU under the Treaty would act “not as an alternative to
Ahead of the debate, Open Europe yesterday published a parliamentary briefing on foreign policy and defence. The Mail also notes the constituency referendums currently underway in 10 seats around the country, commissioned by the I Want a Referendum campaign.
Mail OE briefing on foreign policy and defence BBC
Brown goes to
PA reports that Gordon Brown is heading to
Hilary Benn: from
Guido Fawkes notes on his blog that since moving from the Department for International Development to the DEFRA, Hilary Benn – once a fierce critic of the
EU plans to take control of victim support
PA reports that the EU Commission yesterday backed new calls for an EU-wide system of compensation for victims of crime. Telmo Baltazar, Assistant to the Commission's Justice Director-General Jonathan Faull, said
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EUobserver reports that members of a leading Iranian exiled opposition group presented evidence of continued Iranian nuclear weapon development at a
EUobserver has an update on the ongoing row over EU energy liberalisation.
Tensions between Serbs and Albanians creates fear of Kosovo partition
The
Kosovo 'tool kit for separatists'
Various news sources report that Serbian Foreign Minister Vuk Jeremic has called Kosovo’s independence illegal and illegitimate and said
EU terror list criticised
Members of the civil liberties committee of the European Parliament have called for changes to how the EU adds people to its terror list, demanding more fairness and transparency. For a person who is put on the list, there is “no possible procedure for taking him off the list,” and the list may become counterproductive by fostering sympathy for terrorists, reports EUobserver.
Nicolas Sarkozy, apparently for the first time, has called for
World
Former French Foreign Minister Philippe Douste-Blazy has been nominated vice Secretary-General of the UN.
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A new study from the OECD reports that
Government sources have indicated that Rev Ian Paisley is expected to step down as Northern Irish First Minister by May.