Expenses reforms ‘do not go far enough’

Date: 17/07/1997

By Rory Watson

NEW controls on MEPs' travel and subsistence allowances will be introduced in the autumn following widespread criticism of the present system.

But the reforms have already come under attack from critics who maintain they do not go far enough.

Under the new rules, members of the European Parliament will in future only be reimbursed if they can produce receipts confirming their travel arrangements. They will also have to sign a central register and actively participate in parliamentary votes in order to qualify for daily allowances.

The reforms are designed to tighten up the rules on the use of the Parliament's 48-million-ecu annual travel and subsistence budget and to quash accusations that the existing procedures are open to abuse.

European Parliament President José María Gil-Robles said this week he hoped that the changes would come into effect from October.

The search for ways to block potential loopholes in the allowances system began last year after allegations that some members were signing up for their allowances early in the day and then leaving, particularly during Strasbourg plenary sessions.

Complaints have also surfaced about members travelling on cheap air fares and then claiming compensation on the basis of a considerably more generous kilometre allowance.

While welcoming the reforms, some MEPs believe more needs to be done.

“The reform is a welcome step towards more transparency and more accountability, but it is not enough by a long way. I feel that the preparatory work was not of sufficiently high quality and there is a danger that the administration will introduce changes which will not really be changes at all,” said Finnish Green MEP Heidi Hautala.

A member of the small working group established earlier this year to consider reforms to the expenses system, Hautala acknowledged that the new requirement to produce a boarding card would ensure that 'phantom travel' would no longer be possible.

But she criticised the decision to maintain the present principle of reimbursing travel costs on a per-kilometre basis instead of replacing it with a system which accurately reflected the price paid for the ticket.

Gil-Robles and the Parliamentary vice-presidents this week asked the institution's quaestors (business managers) to bring forward detailed proposals for a new allowances system by early September, which could then be approved by the bureau.

The quaestors will have to decide what documentary proof MEPs will have to provide for travel reimbursement. While some Euro MPs insist that boarding passes should be sufficient, others maintain that actual plane and train tickets should be produced.

“If it is just a boarding pass, then really there is no real improvement. It would still be possible to take a cheap fare and be reimbursed for a more expensive one,” warned one member.

They will also have to decide whether to reduce the existing rates for travel allowance, which give MEPs 0.76 ecu for the first 400 kilometres and 0.38 ecu thereafter, and at what rate to set a third band for longer journeys.

“We need to look at the flat rate and to reduce it. With the changes which have taken place in air fares recently, the rates are too high,” said Gil-Robles. According to estimates, the changes would save the Parliament 600,000 ecu per year.

In a bid to establish a closer link between the per diem allowance and attendance for parliamentary work, MEPs will have to sign a central register at committee and political group meetings in Brussels and Luxembourg. In Strasbourg, they will have to participate in roll-call votes.

But observers fear that the system may still be far from watertight. “Who will police the central register to make sure that MEPs - and not their assistants or someone else - sign it?” asked one.

While some members argue that the new rules should be even stricter, others believe that speculation about expenses-abuse is overstated.

“I believe that these rumours do not do a service to the vast majority of MEPs. We felt obliged politically and morally to introduce these controls as we cannot afford to have our reputation tarnished,” said Greek Vice-President George Anastassopoulos.