Dispute divides MEPs along party lines

Date: 05/09/02

By David Cronin

BRITISH MEPs have divided along party lines in the row between Marta Andreasen and Neil Kinnock. The divisions have become especially marked on the European Parliament's budget control committee. A formal petition against her dismissal, which Andreasen submitted to the 626-member assembly, has been referred to it.

The Conservatives' representative on the committee, Chris Heaton-Harris, has been among Andreasen's most vocal supporters. On 1 August he hosted a press conference in London for the sacked whistleblower.

But his Labour counterpart on the committee, Eluned Morgan, is staunchly backing Kinnock, her Welsh compatriot and former party leader. Morgan said the Commission was 'left with no option' than to seek Andreasen's suspension. 'She broke every rule in the book by running to the press rather than following detailed rules agreed by both the Commission and trade unions on whistleblowing,' the deputy added.

Morgan has accused Conservatives of using Andreasen in a 'witch hunt' against Kinnock 'who is not even responsible for the [Commission's] accounting systems. That is the responsibility of Michaele Schreyer, commissioner for the EU budget'.

Morgan also contends that Andreasen has failed to substantiate her claim that a new regulation for managing the Union's finances would lead to increased fraud. On the contrary, she says, the Court of Auditors, EU governments and MEPs have decided this regulation provides for greater safeguards in controlling the use of taxpayers' money.

Yet Morgan acknowledged there are serious questions which need to be answered about the Andreasen saga. These include why she was appointed to a senior European Commission post when she had been dismissed from her previous job as an accountant with the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development.

'And why was she asked to sign the interim report on the state of [the EU's] accounts for 2001 when she took over [as the Commission's accounting officer]?' asked Morgan. 'That was not her responsibility.' Andreasen's refusal to sign that interim report was one of the first sources of major friction between her and Jean-Paul Mingasson, then her boss in the Commission's budget directorate-general. The breakdown in their professional relationship is cited as one of the principal factors behind her dismissal.

Denying she has any personal vendetta against Kinnock, Andreasen said she is not seeking to become embroiled in a battle between the ex-Labour leader and his Conservative foes in Britain. 'I would be stupid to think it [my case] may not be used politically,' she said, while emphasising how she has won support on both sides of the left-right divide. 'But I am not playing a political game. I am campaigning to protect the interests of taxpayers who need to trust those who manage their funds. The first person who's using it [the case] politically is Kinnock. He is trying to bury the real problems under a political battle.'

The Andreasen saga has received widespread media attention across Europe, but very little in Spain, where the former accounting officer lives with her husband and two grown-up children when not in Brussels. 'José María Aznar [prime minister] does not want it to get coverage because he wants to become president of the EU,' said Andreasen.

Kinnock is expected to be questioned about the Andreasen case when he appears before the Parliament's budget control committee next Monday (9 September).

The row between Martina Andreasen and Neil Kinnock has led to divisions in the European Parliament, with MEPs divided along party lines.