EU:THE EU ombudsman has insisted MEPs must reveal details of their expenses and has warned that ignoring his recommendations will undermine his office.
Nikoforos Diamandouros, who is charged with safeguarding citizens' rights when they engage with EU institutions, told The Irish Timesyesterday that making public details of MEPs' salaries and expenses would strengthen democracy in the EU. His comments follow a decision by the parliament this week to reject his recommendation on transparency and come amid increasing controversy over MEPs' expenses.
A bureau of 15 senior MEPs wrote to the ombudsman saying they would not comply with his draft recommendation issued last September because it would put MEPs at odds with the practice in most national parliaments and contravene the privacy of their assistants, who are usually paid from MEPs' expenses.
"Imagine an ombudsman in some kind of a Never Never Land that issues decisions all the time and they are all ignored. Obviously in this kind of scenario the legitimacy of the office would be very much reduced," he said
The parliament made its decision despite new evidence coming to light yesterday of a major multimillion euro fraud involving abuse of staff allowances by MEPs.
Dutch MEP Paul van Buitenen published a summary on his website of a secret audit, which the parliamentary authorities have so far refused to release, citing confidentiality. The report highlights taxpayers' money paid for non-existent staff and redundancy payments made to assistants who continued working at the parliament.
Mr van Buitenen may face disciplinary action for breaching confidentiality rules.
British MEP Diana Wallis, who is a member of the parliament's bureau that rejected the ombudsman's recommendation, said the bureau looked carefully at the issue but decided it could not force MEPs to go further than the practice in their home state. But she said there was nothing to stop MEPs voluntarily disclosing details of their expenses.
While refusing to comment on the parliament's reply (which he had still not received by post yesterday), Mr Diamandouros said he stood by his draft recommendation, which was compiled together with the European Data Protection Supervisor to ensure concerns over privacy were addressed.
He agreed there were major differences between member states in their culture of transparency in relation to politicians' expenses, but the question related to the EU's culture of transparency and not national customs. Revealing public representatives' expenses would strengthen transparency and democracy, he said.
The ombudsman cannot issue binding decisions on the EU institutions but instead issues recommendations. MEPs can choose to ignore these recommendations, although in practice they usually comply with them. However, the issue of MEPs' expenses is a long-running controversy and could again become an election issue when EU citizens vote in a new parliament next year.
"I am in a fortunate position that my recommendations are complied with in the overwhelming number of cases," said Mr Diamandouros. "But again, obviously in the eventuality that the ombudsman's recommendations were not to be complied with in a series of cases of high profile, this would be damaging."
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The auditor's full report can be read on Ireland.com