Cox faces the music over in camera meeting as Eurostat row deepens

Date: 26/06/03

By Martin Banks

THE European Parliament was set for a fresh row over an invitation to the European Commission's top official David O'Sullivan to address a group of MEPs behind closed doors over the burgeoning Eurostat scandal.

Parliament President Pat Cox has come under fire for asking O'Sullivan, secretary-general of the Commission, to attend an in camera meeting of the budgetary control committee in Strasbourg on Monday 30 June.

He will be asked to spell out what, if any, improvements to procedures have been implemented following revelations of fraud surrounding the EU's Luxembourg-based statistical agency. OLAF, the anti-fraud agency, is investigating claims l Continued from Page One

that the recently removed head of Eurostat, Yves Franchet, and another senior French official, Daniel Byk, established a bank account to which some €900,000 of Eurostat money had been diverted.

The case has embroiled the Commission in arguably its biggest crisis since the 1999 resignation of Jacques Santer's team over accusations of fraud and mismanagement.

Socialist MEPs, however, are furious that Monday's session with O'Sullivan will take place behind closed doors.

They are particularly incensed as, only last week, Budget Commissioner Michaele Schreyer addressed the budgetary control committee on the same matter in an open meeting.

German deputy Helmut Kuhne, Socialist spokesman on the committee, accused Cox of trying to stop open discussion on the issue.

"Three commissioners have recently made themselves available without any hesitation for a meeting of this committee," he said.

"Why should O'Sullivan be given an easier ride?"

The German MEP accuses Cox of being inconsistent.

"Who does not remember Cox's impassioned speeches four years ago in connection with the fall of the Santer Commission? It cannot be true that now, as president, he - and not the Commission - seeks to stopdiscussion on Eurostat."

Cox's spokesman David Harley said the president proposed a closed meeting because of the "nature" of the subject.

"The Eurostat issue is currently the subject of two investigations and Mr Cox considered a private meeting to be a safeguard to ensure these are conducted properly," he said.

Meanwhile, Yves Franchet backed the Commission's assertions that its President, Romano Prodi, was unaware of the affair.

His statement is set to deflect criticism of Prodi, after several MEPs claimed he knew about the problems at Eurostat but did nothing about it.

However, one Parliament official said that Prodi is not likely to clear his name easily. "The fact that he did not know about the problems is as serious as if he knew and failed to act."

President Pat Cox has sparked controversy by asking David O'Sullivan - the European Commission's secretary general - to address a group of MEPs behind closed doors over the Eurostat fraud scandal.