A recommendation by the European Ombudsman to the European Parliament to disclose the payments it makes to its MEPs, after MaltaToday lodged a complaint in 2005, has sparked a Europe-wide debate over the right of the public to know what MEPs earn.
MaltaToday was refused information by the European Parliament’s bureau on how many daily allowances had been paid to Malta’s five MEPs, including the salaries they pay their assistants and how much they claimed in distance allowance for their travels.
The news item was the main feature on Euronews’s ‘Europa’ bulletin, after Ombudsman P. Nikiforos Diamandouros declared that the public has a right to know how much money MEPs are paid for work-related expenses.
“This case is important because it highlights the need to carefully balance the right to privacy with the public interest in openness when deciding whether the public has a right to access information of this kind. MEPs have to be aware of the public interest in their use of public funds. That is why I have decided to explain my findings publicly at this stage of the inquiry,” Diamandouros said.
Julian Vassallo, head of the European Parliament office in Valletta, yesterday lauded MaltaToday’s initiative to press ahead with its story on MEP accounts.
“It is to its credit that MaltaToday, acting through channels at the disposal of all EU citizens, has triggered a Europe-wide debate on the delineation of the right to privacy of MEPs and their assistants on the one hand, and the right of the public to know how public funds are used on the other.
“The Bureau of the Parliament will now take a new look at the issue on the basis of the Ombudsman’s recommendations before the December 31st deadline. If it is swayed by his recommendations it may have to change its Rules of Procedure which were partly the basis for its refusal to divulge the information requested by MaltaToday.”
The European Parliament however is not obliged to follow the Ombudsman’s recommendation, a spokesman told The Times yesterday, saying the institution’s administration will now reconsider the decision in one of the coming meetings.
Labour MEPs John Attard Montalto, Louis Grech and Joseph Muscat said in a joint-statement sent to MaltaToday that since the Parliament and Ombudsman have divergent views on the subject, the matter was an inter-institutional issue between the two bodies, affecting all members and officials of all the EU institutions.
“Neither have we at any point raised the said issue with the European Parliament and Ombudsman, nor have these institutions approached us to request our views on the subject.
“However, we assume that there will be further developments regarding this matter which will provide the appropriate fora to express our views and opinions.
“Having said that, we will support any measure taken to further ensure accountability in the whole process. It must be made clear that we are presently fully compliant with all European Parliament rules and regulations.”
Nationalist MEPs Simon Busuttil and David Casa said yesterday they “already disclose all required information” in line with the applicable rules of the European Parliament, including the rules governing the secretarial allowances and the reimbursement of travel expenses.
“Since the said draft recommendation is addressed to the European Parliament and refers to rules which apply to all Members, we shall, of course, follow the detailed opinion of the European Parliament on the matter and be guided accordingly.”

MaltaToday’s complaint
The issue at stake is not what MEPs ‘disclose’ to the institution – but what the institution discloses to the public.
In August 2005 MaltaToday was denied access by the European Parliament administration on data detailing payments to the five Maltese MEPs.
MaltaToday complained to the Ombudsman arguing that MEPs “should be open to scrutiny from their constituents.”
Parliament officials argued that the disclosure of such details would breach rules on data protection while the use of public funds by MEPs is monitored by the budgetary control committee and the Court of Auditors.
They that it was not up to them to provide such information and that they are not even allowed to distribute it among MEPs.
But Diamandouros took the opinion of the European Data Protection Supervisor, Peter Hustinx, who argued that “although the position of MEP did not mean that MEPs should be denied protection of their privacy, the basic consideration had to be that the public had a right to be informed about their behaviour.”
The Ombudsman concluded that the Parliament had “wrongly rejected, in its entirety, the complainant’s application for access to the data” which constitutes a case of maladministration.
The parliament can offer a defence of its position until the end of this year.

Salaries and perks
MEPs’ salaries and perks will change from mid-2009 when new rules will change some of the most criticised benefits.
The new statute will lay down the same EUR7,000 salary and other payments for MEPs across member states, and paid from the bloc’s budget rather than from individual member states.
The new system will also ditch the existing provisions for reimbursements of MEPs’ travel budgets, who get a flat-rate refund for their travel between different working places (up to EUR971), and from home to work (0.24 euro per km), plus an extra travel allowance of EUR3,736 per year for work-related journeys throughout the year.
Under the new statute, all reimbursements will be based on actual receipts from travel tickets.
MEPs will keep their daily allowance of EUR268, which is paid every time they sign the committee attendance register, and EUR14,865 per month to run their office.

Ombudsman:
www.ombudsman.europa.eu/recommen/en/053643.htm

Euronews:
No expenses shared? Call to make public MEPs costs