Balfe climb down over Cox email

By Martin Banks

Date: 30/10/03

EUROPEAN Parliament quaestor Richard Balfe was this week forced into an embarrassing climb down after he was accused of “political blackmail”.

The UK Conservative MEP agreed to withdraw an email in which he expressed a concern, raised by Swedish deputy Charlotte Cederschiold, that a member of the Court of Auditors “has a thing about members and their benefits”.

Balfe took this as a reference to Lars Tobisson, Sweden's representative at the Luxembourg-based Court, but says he now accepts this was a mistake.

In the email to the assembly's president, Balfe urged Pat Cox to tell Court President Juan Fabra Vallés that auditors should not let “personal obsessions”.get in the way of their work.

This in turn prompted Cederschiold to write a protest letter to Cox in which she brands Balfe's email as “unbelievable”.and warns it risks “serious consequences”.

She wrote: “I would like to make it very clear that I have full confidence in the work of Mr Tobisson as a member of the Court of Auditors. I know him as a personal friend who has always been committed to the tasks he has carried out.”

She adds: “I do not support what Mr Balfe states in his email to you.”

Tobisson, a member of the Court since 2002, described Balfe's email as “remarkable”, adding: “Like many, I support reform of the MEPs' expenses regime. However, I certainly do not have 'a thing', or a 'personal obsession' about MEPs or their benefits.”

Speaking from China this week, Balfe said: “I have withdrawn the email because it was a mistake and that is all I want to say.”

Dutch Socialist deputy Michiel van Hulten accused Balfe of “political blackmail”.for what he saw as an attempt to persuade Cox to influence Fabra Vallés into toning down the Court's recent criticism of the Parliament's voluntary pension scheme in a draft report.

As one of five quaestors, Balfe has responsibility for management of the MEPs' pension fund.

The UK MEP and European Parliament Quaestor Richard Balfe was forced to withdraw an e-mail in which he expressed a concern that a member of the Court of Auditors was overly concerned about MEPs and their benefits.