EPP-ED denies Christmas gifts cash blunder

Date: 25/11/04

By Véronique Vallières

MEPS' Christmas shopping has been thrown into confusion amid denials that Europe's taxpayers have been footing the bill for their presents.

Austrian MEP Othmar Karas, who is treasurer of the Parliament's largest group, the European People's Party (EPP-ED), sent out a note to his 267 colleagues at the beginning of the month declaring that: “Members of the EPP-ED group are entitled to invoice Christmas gifts up to 700 euros each year and to a maximum of 100 euros per gift. These Christmas articles do not need to bear the logo or the name of the group.”

When some MEPs expressed surprise about the note, the EPP-ED's spokesman Robert Fitzhenry told European Voice: “It was a personal error by Mr Karas and it should not have been sent out.”

Fitzhenry later sent out an email warning MEPs that: “European Voice is contacting members about the purchase of gifts as outlined in a recent circular letter sent to all EPP-ED group members. The circular letter concerned has been withdrawn and cancelled.”

This week another EPP-ED spokesman, Philip Schulmeister, said that the note had been sent out by “the administration of the group's financial services department”.

He said that at a meeting last week with treasurers from the national delegations, Karas had made clear he would not approve such purchases.

The minutes of that meeting record that “it is out of the question to allocate group funds to purchase end of the year gifts”.

Asked whether the group had in the past approved payments for gifts, Schulmeister said: “There is the possibility of having a certain amount of money - I think it's about 1,000 euros per member - that can be spent on gifts that do not bear the logo of the Parliament or the group. They can hand in bills for that amount.”

Such spending was, he said, permitted under the Parliament's financial regulation and so was available to all political groups.

Heide Rühle, treasurer of the Greens group, said that there were no clear rules in the Parliament regarding presents, but that they were needed to prevent dubious use of taxpayers' money. “In our group, we normally cannot give presents without an official request to the treasurer. Only under very special circumstances are we allowed to give gifts [to other politicians].”

Linda McAvan, treasurer of the Socialists group, said: “We don't have a budget line for gifts. It may happen that we bring a book or something to someone but otherwise we don't give gifts like that.”

The spending by political groups comes from the budget line 3701, whose rules were tightened last year after a critical report from the European Court of Auditors. Spending on gifts would come from the heading for so-called political and information activities. Such activities encompass expenses from press releases and brochures to promotional gadgets.

Schulmeister said MEPs might seek reimbursement for purchases such as “buying a bunch of flowers, or a present for a tombola or sponsoring a youth football association, stuff like that - the kind of stuff you have to do because you are working in the constituency”.

Controversy about a note sent out by Austrian MEP Othmar Karas, treasurer of the EPP-ED to his colleagues at the beginning of December 2004, declaring that Members of the EPP-ED group were entitled to invoice Christmas gifts up to 700 euros each year and to a maximum of 100 euros per gift. The note which was declared a personal error was later withdrawn and cancelled.