Van Buitenen: Why I’m leaving the European Commission

Date: 05/09/02

By Martin Banks

PAUL van Buitenen, the official whose whistleblowing revelations triggered the resignation of the Santer Commission, has told of the reasons behind his decision to quit the EU executive.

The 45-year-old is returning to his native Netherlands, saying he is 'bitterly disappointed' at the failure of Romano Prodi's administration to live up to its promises to clean up the system.

Van Buitenen starts his new job as a financial controller with the police in his home town of Breda next week. He says he has not received a pay-off.

The assistant auditor caused shockwaves in 1999 when he went public with his claims of corruption, cronyism and abuse of power in the Commission.

The allegations were taken up by the European Parliament and the entire team of 20 commissioners resigned in a symbolic gesture to demonstrate their commitment to reforms.

But van Buitenen argues that, three years on, the culture of the EU executive has not altered.

'Despite everything, I cannot see any change in Brussels,' he said.

The last straw for him was the harsh treatment of the Commission's former accounting officer, Marta Andreasen, he added. After writing a book about his experiences, Blowing the Whistle, van Buitenen was moved to a post as a food safety official in Luxembourg,

Initially he wanted to remain working for the institution, which he joined in 1990. 'I didn't want to end up like other whistleblowers who could never let go, so I pulled back and got on with my work. But then I saw things I did not like.

'I saw the same people responsible for all these abuses still there in the Commission, or even promoted.

'I read articles saying Neil Kinnock was pushing through all these reforms when I knew it was not really happening.'

Last year, he sent Kinnock's office a 235-page dossier alleging that old cases had been swept under the carpet and exposing new fraud claims.

Some of the allegations have led to inquiries by OLAF, the EU's anti-fraud office, but van Buitenen believes OLAF has shielded what he calls the 'hard core of power' in Brussels.

Van Buitenen was made a knight of the Order of Orange-Nassau by Queen Beatrix of the Netherlands two years ago and awarded the Frode Jakobsen prize by the Danish June Movement for his courage in speaking out.

But the father of two admits he now hopes to escape the limelight.

'The pressure was too great,' he says. 'With this move to Breda, where I and my wife were born, we are putting our family first.'

Kinnock's spokesman, Eric Mamer, contested van Buitenen's claim that little had been achieved since 1999, saying considerable progress had been made in reforming the Commission.

Paul van Buitenen, the assistant auditor at the European Commission, explains the reasons behind his decision to leave the European Commission.