The political watchdog

Date: 07/03/1996

BERNHARD Friedmann is a consummate politician who seems certain to ruffle a few feathers in his new job as president of the EU's Court of Auditors.

Having spent 15 years as a Christian Democrat member of the German Bundestag, Friedmann is no stranger to publicity and the power of the media.

Whereas his predecessor André Middelhoek was anything but a public relations animal, Friedmann's allies believe he will raise the Court's profile as he pushes his ideas of “modern financial control”.

The 63-year-old Friedmann is determined to intensify the fight against fraud, even if this takes his institution to the edge of politics. His first major test awaits him on 11 March, when he meets EU finance ministers to discuss the Court's latest annual report.

“The Court must represent the interests of EU citizens and be their financial conscience. It is obviously not going to be loved by everyone, but hopefully it can be loved by Europe's taxpayers,” says a colleague who claims that Friedmann receives hundreds of letters of support every month.

Middelhoek shied away from the media, but no one is under any illusions about the importance Friedmann gives to relations with the press and to building bridges with the European Parliament, with which the Court has not always seen eye-to-eye.

Friedmann is obviously used to getting results. Back in 1986, his book Unity not Rockets - Themes on German Reunification foresaw unification at a time when it remained a pipe-dream to most observers. History was to prove him right.

“This is typical of him, he has long-term ideas. He became president as a direct consequence of his wide-ranging serious attitude,” says a former colleague, describing Friedmann as a true European and adding: “People who truly understand EU structures are rare.”

Friedmann took up his present job in January this year, but has been a power behind the scenes since he joined the Court in 1989. His colleagues maintain that much of the impetus for more stringent EU budgetary control came from Friedmann. It is also said that his telephone call to German Chancellor Helmut Kohl on the eve of Maastricht was instrumental in gaining the Court full institutional status.

His time in the Bundestag made Friedmann a number of influential friends and he enjoys a close relationship with Kohl. “Our big Helmut always listens to what Bernhard has to say,” said one friend, a former German MP.

Friends claim that Friedmann commands respect from all sides of the Bundestag for his encouragement of cross-party cooperation.

He also recognises the importance of working with state prosecutors and the national police authorities, as underlined by the recent Belgian police investigation of two senior Commission officials for alleged misuse of EU tourism subsidies.

While the fight against fraud can be fought partly through the media, Friedmann is also looking to the Parliament to take up the cudgels in tandem with the Court.

He has already begun putting out feelers to senior MEPs involved in the struggle against fraud. “Auditing must be taken seriously and get to the edge of politics,” says a close associate. “We must make political suggestions to the Parliament and it is up to them whether they take them up or not.”

Friedmann may have his work cut out to win over Germany's Social Democrat members. Not only do they come from the other side of German politics, but he also had a highly-publicised quarrel with them in the not too distant past.

But other MEPs, even those in the Socialist group, regard him as “extremely helpful and serious about his work”, and anticipate his political background will give the Court's work an increased political slant.

Unsurprisingly, Friedmann works long hours and is said to read everything that passes his desk. Although he expects much from those who work for him, they nevertheless maintain that he is a good boss.

Friedmann makes a point of being accessible, eating his lunch in the staff canteen to sound out the atmosphere in the institution and keep abreast of any problems which may be brewing.

“It's fun to work with him because he leads by example. If he believes in an idea strongly, he will break down walls to achieve it.” His fans says he has remained unaffected by his evident career success, and describe him as serious, but extremely open, with a good sense of humour.

“He's a very nice guy, very jovial, and doesn't put over the image of an auditor at all,” commented one journalist, stressing how easy it is to gain access to the watchdog of the EU budget.

Appointed an honorary professor at Freiburg University last year, Friedmann returns there every month to lecture on economics, and there are those who speculate he will turn to full-time academia when his current six-year term at the Court is over.

“He has an incredible memory for all sorts of budgetary details. He also has the gift of being able to describe a very complex concept, but in a way that makes it easy for non-experts to understand,” said one colleague.

Not everyone is so charitable. One non-German colleague suggested: “He has a very German way of working - cooperates well with the German Commissioners, the German Parliament president and the German chairman of the budgetary control committee. His administrative ideas are based firmly on German models.”

Others whose feathers he has ruffled are also critical. Clearly upset by the tough time the Commission has had at the hands of the Court in recent years, one official commented: “He's extremely ambitious, always wanting to take things to the press. He's keen to find a big corruption scandal so he can claim to be the big auditor who found it out. But there are not always criminals around, and the Court should just do its job and if it uncovers wrongdoing, then so be it.”

“I can see why people in the Commission would say he is too political,” admits a close colleague, adding that his style is far from “accountantese”.

Although his present position is that of a senior official, this has not prevented Friedmann from expressing forthright views on the future of the EU budget. He has, for example, called repeatedly for a reduction in Germany's contribution.

In an essay published last June, Friedmann called for budget contributions to be revised to reflect each member state's population and GNP figures more fairly.

He argues for the liberalisation of the agricultural sector and the replacement of the current structural aid system with subsidised loans or a redirection in policy towards tax reductions for investment. This would, in turn, pave the way for the accession of Central and Eastern Europe. He is also believed to be planning an internal shake-up of the Court itself.

Although he often works into the small hours, Friedmann makes a point of returning every weekend to his family home in the Black Forest where he remains a well-known and popular figure. Among a considerable menagerie, he keeps dogs, cats, ducks and geese.

The benefits of the south-west German air are evident. A senior Russian official who met him recently refused to believe that Friedmann was over 60, something the president himself attributes to “positive stress”.

The only disappointment of his election - by an overwhelming majority - as head of the Court of Auditors was that he felt he should resign as president of Germany's 40,000 private distillers of fruit spirits “to avoid a conflict of interests”, according to a close colleague.

Although famed for his 'Kirschwasser' (beware of calling it schnapps, say his colleagues, for the two are not the same, contrary to popular belief), Friedmann is normally too busy to indulge during the week. Official drinks receptions are not the favourite pastime of this down-to-earth official of whom the EU will be hearing a great deal more.