Kinnock ‘loses cool’ in defence of whistleblower’s suspension

Date: 12/09/02

By Martin Banks

WHISTLEBLOWER Marta Andreasen has angrily hit back at claims by European Commission Vice-President Neil Kinnock that she violated staff regulations and brought the executive into disrepute.

Kinnock told MEPs this week the Argentinian-born official had defamed her superiors following her allegations that the EU budget was vulnerable to fraud.

Criticising her decision to go public with her concerns, he also defended the executive's decision to suspend the former accounting officer.

But Andreasen told European Voice she was incensed by Kinnock's comments, which came during a heated debate at the European Parliament's cross-party budgetary control committee on Monday (9 September).

Andreasen, who attended the packed meeting, said: 'I was so angry and frustrated at what I was hearing I wanted to stand up and shout: 'Stop it Mr Kinnock'.' She also accused the commissioner of 'losing it' when he was questioned by committee member Chris Heaton-Harris.

Kinnock told the Conservative MEP he was guilty of 'devastating ignorance' by comparing the Andreasen case to those of Enron and Worldcom.

But when he was urged to conclude his remarks by committee chairman, German MEP Diemut Theato, Kinnock snapped: 'The Commission is to be subject to any and every political attack but is not to be allowed to respond.

'We are paid to be put in the stocks but never to respond.'

In a tense exchange, Theato said: 'Oh, we pity you,' to which Kinnock retorted: 'I'm not looking for pity.'

Andreasen, who was removed from her post on 23 May, said: 'Kinnock is a seasoned politician but, clearly, he lost his cool. It makes you wonder why he reacted so abruptly to what was straightforward questioning.'

On Kinnock's claim that she had failed to go through the proper procedures in raising her concerns about the Commission's accounting system, Andreasen repeated her previous assertion: 'This is totally wrong. I followed the rules and went to my superiors but nothing was done.'

She added: 'The truth is that at Monday's meeting, Kinnock failed to present any facts to back up the accusations he's made against me.

'Nor did he respond to the issues I've raised, failing to say, for example, who signed the 2001 accounts and when.

'Kinnock said this is not like Enron or Worldcom, but I say it is worse.'

Andreasen is alleged to have breached three staff regulations - articles 12, 21 and 60.

These cover making statements that reflect badly on the institution; failing to observe the proper hierarchy; and being absent from work without permission. She denies breaking the rules, but says she will not cooperate with internal disciplinary proceedings against her unless they are held in public.

The Commission is refusing to do this. However, in a recent interview with BBC radio's Today programme, Kinnock insisted: 'The disciplinary procedures are fair...maintain her full rights in law, representation, natural justice and that is absolutely guaranteed.'

He maintained that Andreasen had failed to substantiate her claims 'despite written invitations to provide the substance, claims like the one...that the new financial regulation adopted by the Parliament, endorsed by the Court of Auditors, adopted by the 15 member states governments increases, I quote, 'fraud and error risk'.'

He said the deficiences in the accounting system were well known 'because the Commission and the Court of Auditors in 1999 identified those weaknesses and since then we've been engaged in continual and increasingly profound changes in the system'.

He added that the Commission's new so-called accrual accounting system will be fully on stream by 2005 - much more rapidly than the UK, Sweden and the Netherlands, which are introducing similar methodology.

Kinnock's aides say Andreasen knew this and went too far when she directly accused her former superiors of 'promoting fraud'.

MEPs were split over Kinnock's performance on Monday.

Dutch socialist Michiel van Hulten said: 'He got a bit emotional but Andreasen went outside the institutions and did not do it in the way agreed in the whistleblowers' charter.'

Danish eurosceptic Jens-Peter Bonde remarked: 'Kinnock said a lot but wasn't very convincing.'

Heaton-Harris said: 'What's needed now is an independent inquiry, perhaps by a national audit office in a member state, to get to the bottom of the whole affair.'

Meanwhile, Andreasen has accused some MEPs of trying to gag her by blocking moves to allow her to speak at the budgetary committee.

She said: 'I was due to appear before the committee later this month to explain my side of the story but some members, for reasons best known to themselves, have objected to this. I find this wrong and unfair.'

Committee members are expected to vote on 30 September to decide whether she can appear before them.

Whistleblower Marta Andreasen has angrily hit back at claims by European Commission Vice-President Neil Kinnock that she violated staff regulations and brought the executive into disrepute.