Parliament seeks inspiration on how to reveal MEPs’ expenses

The European Parliament is looking at how members of national parliaments declare their expenses to get ideas for how MEPs should disclose details of their spending from the EU budget.

The investigation was prompted by a recommendation from European Ombudsman Nikiforos Diamandouros, who last September said that MEPs should reveal details of their expenses. The Parliament is not expected to endorse the ombudsman’s recommendation, but is seeking to avoid an outright rejection. MEPs are concerned about their public image, ahead of elections for the European Parliament in June 2009.

Bad publicity about lack of transparency on expenses could be a turn-off for voters, leading to another abysmal turnout.

"We are checking to see if there is a model which can provide a possible answer that is not completely negative," said one Parliamentary official.

But Chris Davies, a UK Liberal Democrat MEP, said that he was not hopeful of the Parliament coming up with a model which involves full transparency given that most national parliaments across the EU do not require their members to reveal their expenses.

"The European Parliament should be setting the best example in this but if the norm is something different then I wouldn’t be hopeful," he said.

The Parliament’s bureau - made up of the president and the 14 vice-presidents - will decide on the matter after officials compile the necessary information. The bureau was expected to reply to the ombudsman by the end of the year but has agreed to extend the deadline for replying for a further two months after a request by officials.

The ombudsman will then make a recommendation based on the Parliament’s reply, which the assembly can accept or reject.

The issue has been under the spotlight for two years following a complaint by a journalist who sought information on MEPs’ expenses. The Parliament said that supplying such information would compromise the privacy of assistants who work with MEPs by revealing details of their salaries. It added that there was an adequate process in place to ensure that MEPs’ expenses were scrutinised.

But the ombudsman rejected these arguments stressing "the great importance of public access to documents with respect to transparency, accountability and democracy in the EU".

MEPs’ expenses include a €279 daily allowance to cover meals and hotels, €15,496 per month to hire an assistant, €3,946 per month to run an office in the home constituency and travel expenses.

The European Parliament is looking at how members of national parliaments declare their expenses to get ideas for how MEPs should disclose details of their spending from the EU budget.