THE EUROPEAN Parliament has approved the appointment of Kevin Cardiff to the European Court of Auditors, overturning a decision of its senior budget committee.
Mr Cardiff, who currently serves as secretary general at the Department of Finance, is almost assured of a seat on Europe’s audit body after the vote yesterday.
All that remains is for his nomination to be formally ratified by the European Council sometime in the new year, a process unlikely to present any problems.
During yesterday’s vote for nominations to the court, 521 MEPs voted in favour of nominating Mr Cardiff, while 128 voted against and 34 abstained.
Each member state in the European Union is represented on the court which is charged with oversight of the union’s books of account.
Membership comes with a remuneration package of €276,000 a year.
Yesterday was the first time the parliament in Strasbourg overturned a recommendation by its own budgetary control committee. Its report three weeks ago advised against appointing Mr Cardiff.
During the committee stage, Mr Cardiff had been questioned about the department’s role in the financial crisis.
Afterwards it emerged that the outgoing Irish member of the court, Eoin O’Shea, had sent critical e-mails to key members of the committee about Mr Cardiff.
Yesterday’s vote appeared to be a foregone conclusion by Monday night when the centre-right, socialist and liberal groups decided they would go against the committee’s report and vote in favour of Mr Cardiff.
In the run-up to this week’s plenary session in Strasbourg, Taoiseach Enda Kenny lobbied the leader of the European People’s Party (EPP) – Fine Gael’s affiliate and the largest group in the parliament – Joseph Daul, for his support for Mr Cardiff.
A spokeswoman for the group said the EPP had decided unanimously to support Mr Cardiff and that Monday had been the first time the matter had been discussed by the group.
The vote was welcomed by Fianna Fáil MEP Pat the Cope Gallagher, who said Mr Cardiff was just as qualified as the other seven nominees who went before the parliament yesterday.
The appointment was not supported by all Irish MEPs, however, as Nessa Childers of the Labour Party and Paul Murphy of the Socialist Party publicly stated that they were voting against the motion, which was decided by secret ballot.
The two MEPs raised concerns about what they claim is the misuse of European Union institutions by the Government.
They have both accused the Fine Gael-Labour Coalition of attempting to rid itself of Mr Cardiff, who was secretary general of the Department of Finance at the time of the bank guarantee.
Mr Cardiff was also at the centre of controversy in October when a €3.6 billion accounting error was discovered in the department.
“They are simply using it [the European Court of Auditors] as a dumping place for someone they want to get rid off,” said Mr Murphy.