Working party to examine MEPs’ pay

Date: 23/01/1997

By Rory Watson

THE European Parliament is set to give the green light next week to an in-depth investigation into ways of reforming the status and working conditions of its 626 members.

The decision to establish a working party follows widespread public criticism at the end of last year of the arrangements which currently apply to the payment of members' regular travel and subsistence costs.

Newly-elected Parliament President José-María Gil-Robles is keen to defuse that criticism as quickly as possible, but has already indicated that he wants the inquiry to be as broad-based as possible and not limited just to MEPs' expenses.

When the Parliament's new bureau meets next Wednesday (29 January), Gil-Robles will ask the vice-presidents to establish a working group to examine the far broader question of a proper statute for MEPs. This would consider not just the system of expenses, which many privately admit helps to boost the salaries of the Parliament's less well-paid members, but also the idea of establishing uniform remuneration for all elected deputies and laying down comprehensive rules on their status and obligations.

While the majority of MEPs strongly favour the idea of a single statute for all members not least because it would ensure they are paid equally instead of according to national criteria as now repeated attempts to agree such a statute in the past have always foundered. And there are fears that considering the two issues together could hamper efforts to reform the expenses system.

“National governments are not going to vote for something which could see their MEPs receiving more than their national parliamentarians. By widening the remit of the inquiry, the bureau could in effect be killing off any idea of reform of the expenses system,” said one senior member.

The degree of internal hostility to any changes in existing arrangements clearly emerged last November when the Parliament's previous bureau refused to support ideas put forward by outgoing President Klaus Hänsch to reform the way members' travel and accommodation allowances are handled.

Hänsch had proposed tightening up travel reimbursement by insisting that boarding cards should be produced for any air travel, and sought to clamp down on abuse of the per diem attendance allowances by demanding that MEPs must take part in votes in order to receive the payments.

The working group under a parliamentary vice-president is expected to be under pressure to come forward with recommendations by the end of March, a timetable which roughly coincides with parallel efforts to establish the first Euro-parliamentary code of conduct for lobbyists in regular contact with MEPs.

A draft set of principles for this code, prepared by British Socialist MEP Glyn Ford, is currently before the Parliament's rules committee and is likely to be ready for final consideration shortly after Easter.

Under the draft rules, individuals or firms seeking regular access to MEPs and their staff would need to provide extensive details of their activities for a central register and agree to a certain number of specific conditions, such as a ban on selling copies of documents obtained from EU institutions to third parties.

One of the most controversial elements of Ford's proposal is that lobbyists and consultancies should not recruit MEPs or parliamentary staff until at least two years after they have left the institution.

This idea has already fallen foul of the Parliament's staff committee. “Such a rule is unthinkable. We have nothing to hide. We work in an open environment here. We will certainly take this up before the report goes to the full Parliament,” said one official.

Ford acknowledges that the proposal faces opposition and he has already changed his original view that MEPs' assistants should be covered by the restriction. But he is determined not to weaken it further.

“There may be resistance, but that is not a reason for me to back down. This is designed to end the confusion whereby members are wandering the corridors [as lobbyists] the day after losing office, or staff soon after leaving the institution,” he said.

Both initiatives still face major hurdles: a Euro-statute for MEPs must be approved by EU governments and the lobbyists' code of conduct needs the support of at least 314 MEPs.