German and Danish MEPs in U-turn over online declaration

Date: 17/01/02

By Martin Banks

TWO prominent MEPs have posted their financial interests on the Parliamentary website after originally refusing to do so.

The U-turns by Danish deputy Freddy Blak and German Hartmut Nassauer follow a campaign for transparency spearheaded by European Voice.

Nassauer originally insisted he would not publish his details on the internet and, in the past, Blak has criticised the paper's campaign calling for MEPs to post their details online.

Blak, a member of the influential budgetary control committee, said, however, that he had now changed his mind.

'I must admit that I still have some reservations about putting my personal financial interests online because it could be open to abuse. But I take the view that as I have nothing to hide, why not do it?' he said.

Blak's declaration reveals that he expects to receive up to €11,000-a-year in expenses after being elected last November to his local council in Nestved, Denmark, and €800-per-month from a Danish trade union.

Nassauer, head of Germany's Christian Democrat MEPs in the European Parliament, lectures and sits on the board of a film company in Wiesbaden, near Frankfurt.

Since mid-November, three other deputies have also registered online: Reinhard Rack, an Austrian member of the EPP-EDD group, reveals he also works as a professor at a university in Graz; Gilles Savary, a socialist, also receives income as a Bordeaux councillor and fellow PES member Elisa Maria Damiao, from Portugal, states she has no other paid outside interests.

Commenting on his decision to register, Savary said: 'The fact that I have not registered until now is due more to an administrative error than anything else.'

Financial declarations by MEPs were posted online for the first time last July. They are not, however, immediately visible: the document detailing interests has to be downloaded first.

Previously, the public had only been able to view the declarations by consulting a central register - not available online - in Brussels or Strasbourg.

Reformers say the posting of financial interests is crucial for public confidence and to ensure that MEPs do not have a conflict of interests.

The declaration of outside interests on the internet is the culmination of over two years' work by reform-minded MEPs. All MEPs in the Green and Liberal groups have their details posted.

There are 26 MEPs still refusing to register on the internet. They are: EPP-EDD group: Michl Ebner (I), Werner Langen (D), Peter Michael Mombaur (D), Doris Pack (D), Godelieve Quisthoudt-Rowohl (D), Ursula Stenzel (A), Marialiese Flemming (A), Brice Hortefeux (F), Christa Klass (D), Karsten Knolle (D), Christoph Werner Konrad (D), Kurt Lechner (D), Francesco Musotto (I), Hubert Pirker (A), Paul Rubig (A), Agnes Schierhuber (A). Socialists: Karin Junker (D), Christa Prets (A), Sergio Sousa Pinto (P). Union for Europe of the Nations: Christiana Muscardini (I), Jean-Charles Marchiani (F). Europe for Democracies and Diversities: Veronique Mathieu (F), Jean-Louis Bernie (F). Independents/non attached: Gian Paolo Gobbo (I), Carl Lang (F), Peter Sichrovsky (A). A: Austria, D: Germany, DK:Denmark, F: France, GR:Greece, I:Italy, P: Portugal. List compiled 11 January.

MEPs can inform the parliamentary website about their financial interests at www.europarl.eu.int, and can also register them with European Voice by email on info@european-voice.com.

The Danish MEP, Freddy Blak, and the German MEP, Hartmut Nassauer have posted their financial interests on the Parliamentary website after originally refusing to do

To find the details of MEP's financial interests online go to the list of Members of the European Parliament and then click on the specific name of the relevant MEP.