A rather interesting juxtaposition of news stories from EUobserver. First off is MEPs call for black list on missing EU funds, on how the parliamentarians are demanding an annual list to name and shame countries that do not supply a clear breakdown on how they spend EU funds. Next comes MEPs water down reform of their expenses system, on how those same parliamentarians voted against fuller disclosure of their use of EU funds – such as producing receipts to back up claims for travel expenses.
The MEPs were not as obtuse as the vote suggests. MEPs are paid the same as national MPs from their country, so relatively low-earning east and central Europeans – who can be on £10,000 - use travel expenses to meet their Brussels living costs. But a failure to sort this out this rather obvious problem has given MEPs a justification to vote against making their expenses more transparent. It makes you wonder why the EU even bothers to commission surveys into the seemingly ever wider divide between Europe's institutions and citizens.
