Hearings spark as van Buitenen claims Kroes involved in slush fund scandal

By Imre de Roo and Martin Banks

Date: 30/09/04

PAUL van Buitenen, the whistleblower who contributed to bringing down the Santer Commission, clashed with his compatriot Neelie Kroes at the European Parliament hearings into the Barroso Commission this week.

Van Buitenen, who was elected to the Parliament in June, launched a battery of allegations against Kroes, who has been proposed as the next competition commissioner.

He had listed 18 areas of concern about Kroes. At Tuesday's (28 September) hearing, he asked her: "Did you accept 75,000 guilders in slush money and do the tax authorities know about this?" Kroes rejected his allegations angrily. "I did not accept any bribes and I will never do so. You don't have any proof," she told him.

Van Buitenen admits that he does not have full proof, but only "important indications" that might disqualify Kroes from her new job. He said he was not prepared to disclose supporting documents.

Fellow MEPs criticized van Buitenen's approach.

After the hearing, Parliament's three biggest political groups said they supported Kroes as the new competition commissioner.

MEPs criticized the performance of the Greek Stavros Dimas, saying that his "worrying" lack of awareness of environmental issues suggested that the Barroso Commission intended to downgrade environmental protection. "Barroso should think again about whether he has chosen the right portfolio for Dimas," said Satu Hassi, a Green MEP from Finland.

Vladimir Spidla, designated for employment and social affairs, refused to answer questions as to the treatment of women in Turkey. He did venture that the proposed services directive needed "more acceptable and more mature conclusions". He thought the EU Gender Institute should be located in one of the new member states.

The Slovak Jan Figel admitted that the portfolio of education and culture was not his first choice. Dalia Grybauskaite, the proposed Lithuanian commissioner for budget, said funding the EU by a direct tax would be "impossible to sell". Danuta Hübner, regional policy, rejected the idea of linking levels of aid to fiscal issues. She said the EU's cohesion would suffer if the budget were capped at 1% of gross national income.

Dutch MEP Paul van Buitenen, the whistleblower who contributed to bringing down the Santer Commission, clashed with his compatriot Neelie Kroes at the European Parliament hearings into the Barroso Commission on 28 September 2004.