Top MEPs split over bid to reveal expenses

Senior MEPs appear to be split over whether to reveal details of MEPs’ expenses.

The majority of the European Parliament’s bureau, including the president and 14 vice-presidents, would not give their opinion on the matter when contacted by European Voice, with just three vice-presidents responding. The European ombudsman has said that MEPs should reveal their general expenses.

The three vice-presidents who did respond reflected the broader divisions within the Parliament over revealing details about expenses. Diana Wallis, a UK Liberal MEP, responded by email saying: "As the vice president responsible for transparency I am more in favour than not." "However," she added, "it is not such a simple issue." She said that revealing details about the expenses "could potentially identify the amount paid to individual parliamentary assistants, which…raises issues which affect their data privacy".

Rodi Kratsa-Tsagaropoulou, a Greek centre-right MEP, said in an email response that she would "support every measure which amounts to more openness and transparency in the house, provided that such measures do not lead to more bureaucracy in the Parliamentary work". She added: "The Parliament has a carefully planned, efficient and coherent in-house auditing mechanism."

Miguel Angel Martínez Martínez, a Spanish Socialist MEP, said that he was against the idea of revealing details about expenses, as compiling detailed information on MEPs expenses could be time-consuming. "You can’t go to the point that you waste more time and energy," he said. He also questioned why such scrutiny should be put on expenses of politicians and not civil servants or commissioners. The bureau will examine the matter because of a recent recommendation by the European ombudsman (27 September) in which he called on MEPs to reveal their general expenses.

The ombudsman’s recommendation is now being studied by the Parliament’s legal and financial services. A Parliament spokesman said that the institution was taking the ombudsman’s recommendation very seriously and stressed that the issue was complex and sensitive as a balance needed to be found between transparency and protection of personal data.

Peter Hustinx, the European data protection supervisor, warned MEPs they had "better get used to" the idea of revealing details about their expenses. "The starting principle here is that MEPs’ fees are public, they are subject to public scrutiny," he said, adding that adequate care could be taken to protect sensitive information.

The 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 bureau in 2005 said that access to this information would violate the privacy of MEPs’ assistants and that the proper use of the funds was guaranteed by checks carried out by its committee on budgetary control and the Court of Auditors.

Herbert Bösch, chairman of the budgetary control committee, said that he was against revealing details of expenses since the controls on use of funds were tight. He said that there were currently "three or more cases where the European Parliament is demanding money back from deputies" following examination of their expenses. He added that if MEPs had to reveal details about their expenses then so should all EU officials receiving public money.

Senior MEPs appear to be split over whether to reveal details of MEPs’ expenses.