Who could disagree with the EU’s Ombudsman when he says: ‘Europarl continues to fail to comply with transparency rules. Nobody?
Well not exactly, for theLib/Dem MEP ,Diana Wallis, who happens, so it would appear, to be Vice President of that pseudo parliament responded by saying:
“publishing complete details of individual payment expenses and allowances would breach [Parliament's] duty to protect personal data […] and could compromise the free and independent exercise of the mandate of an MEP,”
So it’s official. It’s more important for MEP’s to keep their ill gotten gains hidden, than it is for those extravagances to be revealed to those who pay for the feeding troughs!
Ombudsman raps MEPs over allowances
Published: Wednesday 16 July 2008
EU Ombudsman P. Nikiforos Diamandouros has stressed that the European Parliament is continuing to fail to comply with transparency rules regarding the allowances its members receive. But the institution’s Vice President Diana Wallis yesterday (15 July) insisted that reforms are already underway to address the bulk of his concerns.
But British ALDE MEP Diana Wallis, who is responsible for transparency, yesterday stressed that recently adopted “major reforms” to its allowances system “amount to a substantial increase in transparency and will largely address the spirit of the Ombudsman’s remarks”.
Transparency issues rose to prominence recently following last month’s resignations by UK Conservative MEPs Giles Chichester and Den Dover following allegations that they broke the European Parliament’s rules by making payments to companies linked to family members from their expenses.
In response, UK Conservative leader David Cameron announced a “deep clean” of “unacceptable” European expenses, launching a new code of conduct for his party’s MEPs which requires more detailed disclosure of how they spend their allowances. The new measures, which will only affect Tory members, come into force on September 1 2008.
Meanwhile, the changes being introduced by Parliament include:
* The entry into force of a new MEPs’ statute after the 2009 elections with a common salary, coupled with a new system for travel expenses based directly on reimbursement of ticket prices.
* MEPs’ assistants employed in Brussels, Strasbourg and Luxembourg must be employed within the EU staffing system from after the 2009 elections.
* No close family members will be given new contracts as assistants with immediate effect, but existing contracts can be extended if this is noted in the member’s declaration of interests.
* The publication of information on the expenses and allowances of MEPs on the Parliament’s website.
Accordingly, Diamandouros welcomed the Parliament’s announcement that it “plans to re-assess its position after the entry into force of the new statute for MEPs in 2009″. “But that cannot excuse its failure to comply […] now,” he stressed.
The Ombudsman stressed that his role in the Maltese affair “concerned the principle of transparency and not the principle of financial accountability, which is the responsibility of the budget control authorities”. “I maintain my finding of maladministration, but unlike the Court [of First Instance], I have no power to annul Parliament’s decision,” he added, closing the case.
Positions:
Responding to the Ombudsman’s latest pronouncement, European Parliament Vice President responsible for transparency Diana Wallis (ALDE, UK) said “Parliament has noted with interest the comments of the European Ombudsman in his decision on a complaint from a Maltese journalist”. “The report comes at a time when major changes to the expenses and allowances system are being introduced,” she added.
Nevertheless, “publishing complete details of individual payment expenses and allowances would breach [Parliament's] duty to protect personal data […] and could compromise the free and independent exercise of the mandate of an MEP,” read a European Parliament press release yesterday.
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MEPs expenses!I am still trying to work out how a trading agreement turned into a European parliament that rules all our lives that I do not remember anybody asking me if I wanted. What’s the definition of a vampire?
All I got to say is ‘VOTE BNP & DONATE AS MUCH AS YOU CAN TO THE BNP’. Help fight the fight!
This ombudsmanhe works for the EUSSR. This is the organ that cannot get its accounts signed off. There must be one crooked firm of accountants in the whole of the EUSSR. They probably wouldn’t touch them. The whole juggernaut is rotten to the core. So anyone connected to this mafioso organ cannot be taken too seriously when they say there’s corruption and it’s got to stop. In my mind’s eye the EUSSR is like a giant honey comb. but unlike the one in nature it is not working as one. Its little compartments are sucking as much cash as it can to line the pockets of its own.
It seems that our elected representatives are frightened of divulging information! Why?
If it was information in advance I would agree on security grounds but the present situation makes one think.
Let us see what happens when we have more BNP elected representatives.
“[…] and could compromise the free and independent exercise of the mandate of an MEP,”
In plain English, this means: “All those thick voters will begin to realise what we’re spending their money on, so, best not tell ‘em.
Diana Wallis? Oink oink.
Westminster and Europarl should be renamed, “Troughs R Us”.
I don’t see the EUSSR or the government so concerned about the privacy of personal data when it comes to yours or mine. It’s not like anyone’s going to leave MEPs’ info unguarded on a train or on the back seat of a car! Great to see that it’s a Greek who’s sticking up for transparency. Greeks haven’t always been renowned for integrity and clean hands, but it seems that third world standards have moved westwards lately and, while Greece is struggling to clear up its Augean stable, ZaNuLabour is resisting the challenge by all means in its power. We need a BNP MP to wave Circe’s wand and change all those Parliamentary pigs back into human form.
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It would be far easier (and possible) to teach them to fly Sheriff - Ed