MEP expenses: Parliament's ticking timebomb

22 February 2008

MEPs' expenses are a ticking timebomb for the European Parliament, writes Stephen Gardner. The Parliament has stalled again on an EU Ombudsman request to publish details of the generous allowances, which amount to nearly £175,000 per annum for each of the 785 MEPs for office and staffing expenses, plus travel and subsistence expenses, which can easily add another £65,000 (a whopping £188 million annual total bill to the taxpayer!). The Ombudsman asked for a more detailed breakdown of expenses following a complaint by the Malta Today newspaper, which wanted to know if one of the island's MEPs, a former chairman of Air Malta and a beneficiary of free travel, was claiming the parliament's 'distance allowance'. The Parliament was supposed to respond to the Ombudsman by the end of 2007, but secured a two month extension so it could 'study best practice in the member states.' The Ombudsman's request has come at a bad time for the parliament. It's secretive administrative service – known as the Bureau – is working out how to put in place by 2009 a general review of MEPs' salaries and expenses without rocking the boat too much. There were hopes this would lead to greater transparency but, as one insider said, there has been a “scaling down of ambition.” A plan to get MEPs to systematically vouch for half of the general expenses they receive has been abandoned in favour of a general undertaking that MEPs' accounts should be available for spot checks. When the Bureau goes off to study 'best practice' in the member states, it would be wise to look into the Derek Conway furore in the UK, because the 'best practice' of employing family members on inflated salaries is no doubt widespread in the European Parliament. One prominent example is Tory Sir Robert Atkins, whose wife Dulcie, as well as being a borough councillor in Lancashire, is also her husband's secretary. In 2004 she was on a not inconsiderable salary of around £5,500 per month. No doubt, with the strain of keeping pace with the cost of living, it has risen substantially in the meantime! A version of this article was published in Private Eye.

 

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