Convention draws fire from MEP over 150,000 euro ‘entertainment’ fund

Date: 14/03/02

By Martin Banks

EUROPEAN Commission President Romano Prodi is under pressure to justify a €150,000 'entertainment' fund for key members of the Convention on the future of Europe, including its chairman, Valéry Giscard d'Estaing.

British centre-right MEP Chris Heaton-Harris wants Prodi to 'detail the payments, allowances and other expenses' payable to Giscard and members of the all-powerful 12-member praesidium.

In a written Parliamentary question submitted to the Commission earlier this week, Heaton-Harris, a member of the budgetary control committee, asks: 'Is the Commission aware of the concern raised in the media, in particular European Voice, over the funding arrangements for the Convention and its chairman?'

It goes on: 'It seems that €150,000 has been put aside for 'entertainment'.

'This works out at about €15,000 per month and I want to know exactly what will this 'entertainment' fund purchase.

'In the interests of transparency and openness, European Union taxpayers, who, after all, are paying for the Convention, have a right to know where their money is going.'

The Convention has a budget of €4 million for the ten months it will meet this year. The Commission will supply €2.6 million, the European Parliament €1 million and the secretariat of the Council of Ministers €0.4 million.

The funding furore is the latest controversy to hit the Convention, which holds its second full plenary meeting at the Parliament in Brussels next Thursday (21 March).

Giscard, the 76-year-old former French president, was appointed to the post amid much bickering after the country's incumbent head of state, Jacques Chirac, threatened to veto any other choices.

Reports that Giscard had demanded a hefty wage for the post, plus expenses and a lavish hotel room - which he later denied - did little to endear him to his opponents.

Giscard will receive no salary but is getting an estimated €1,000 per month in expenses and stayed in one of the top hotels in Brussels when the Convention was launched last month.

His spokesman, Nikolaus Meyer-Landrut, said the majority of the Convention's budget will be spent on translation services.

He added: 'It is true that a certain amount has been set aside for entertainment but, as the forum has only just been set up, it is too early to state exactly how this will be spent.'

Meanwhile, the Parliamentary delegation to the Convention has made four main demands for changes to the forum's much-criticised rules of procedure.

They include allowing alternate members to play a fuller part in proceedings and enabling procedural disputes to be settled by a vote of the whole Convention.

Representatives of candidate countries may also be allowed to take part in meetings of the praesidium.

The delegation's vice president, MEP Andrew Duff, said the amendments were due to be discussed at a meeting of the praesidium today (14 March).

European Commission President Romano Prodi is under pressure to justify a €150,000 'entertainment' fund for key members of the Convention on the Future of Europe.