Kallas to improve EU’s transparency

By Tim King

Date: 03/03/05

Member states should be obliged to make public details of what individuals, companies and organisations receive in EU agricultural and regional aid, Commissioner Siim Kallas is advocating, in a bid to improve the transparency of the Union.

The commissioner, who is responsible for administration, personnel and the fight against fraud, also wants stricter rules for MEPs, lobbyists and non-governmental organisations obliging them to declare where they get their money from. He accuses some MEPs of providing "very sketchy" information.

In a speech he is making in Nottingham today (3 March), Kallas declares his intention to present a paper to his fellow commissioners "in the course of the spring" on a European Transparency Initiative. That would be followed, he says, by a communication in the autumn outlining possible legal action and recommendations to member states.

At present, information as to who benefits from EU money is not widely available, although there are some exceptions. Kallas's home country, Estonia, publishes a register of recipients of farm and rural development aid. Denmark introduced a similar scheme last year and the UK government has disclosed data after a request made under the freedom of information act.

In a speech at Nottingham Business School on 3 March 2005, the European Commissioner for Administrative Affairs, Audit and Anti-Fraud, Siim Kallas, declared his intention to present a paper to his fellow Commissioners 'in the course of the spring' on a European Transparency Initiative. That would be followed, he said, by a Communication in the autumn outlining possible legal action and recommendations to Member States.

European Commission: SPEECH/05/130 http://europa.eu/rapid/pressReleasesAction.do?reference=SPEECH/05/130&format=HTML&aged=0&language=EN&guiLanguage=en

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