A secret European Parliament report has uncovered "extensive, widespread and criminal abuse" by Euro-MPs of staff allowances worth almost £100 million a year.
Senior Euro-MPs and European Union officials have tried to hush up an internal audit that found severe problems and endemic misuse of funds worth at least £98.4 million a year, more than £125,000 for each of the 785 Euro-MPs. (The Telegraph)
So MEPs are stealing £100 million from the European people every year. But this isn't really all that surprising - pretty much the lot of them are just pigs with their snouts in the trough. What is most disgusting is the piece of the article that follows the revelation of the obscene amount of taxpayer's money being stolen:Senior Euro-MPs and European Union officials have tried to hush up an internal audit that found severe problems and endemic misuse of funds worth at least £98.4 million a year, more than £125,000 for each of the 785 Euro-MPs. (The Telegraph)
Such is the extent of the abuse found in a sample group of 167 Euro-MPs that "terrified" parliamentary authorities have shrouded the report in secrecy and security...
"We want reform but we cannot make this report available to the public if we want people to vote in the European elections next year," said a source close to the decision.
Only Euro-MPs on the parliament's budget control committee are allowed to see the report.
To do so, they must apply to enter a "secret room", protected by biometric locks and security guards. They may not take notes and must sign a confidentiality agreement.
Excuse me? You can't make reform if the people know how corrupt you all are? How does that make sense? That level of security stinks of a cover-up of an even greater level of corruption and criminal abuse than already revealed. Even so they have the audacity to claim that "the document is not secret. It is confidential." - and to flatly reject an inquiry by the EU's own anti-fraud office. One rule for us, another for them."We want reform but we cannot make this report available to the public if we want people to vote in the European elections next year," said a source close to the decision.
Only Euro-MPs on the parliament's budget control committee are allowed to see the report.
To do so, they must apply to enter a "secret room", protected by biometric locks and security guards. They may not take notes and must sign a confidentiality agreement.
Trixy has the transcript of an email sent by the President of the European Parliament, asking MEPs to submit a declaration of their financial interests "within two months". Which is a long time. And yet this isn't the even first time a request has been made for this, originally made back in November. So they've had four months already, and get another two months grace now. That's six months before they even start chasing them up. Absolutely ridiculous. And I thought giving British MPs two months to submit a list of any family members who work for them was ridiculous.
I was going to say "well at least it seems that our elected representatives really aren't all that corrupt after all". But then I realised that MEPs in the European Parliament are our elected representatives as well.
