Busuttil proposes full transparency rules for PN MEPs
Matthew Vella
Nationalist MEP Simon Busuttil has presented a new set of rules to bind PN MEPs to declare and audit all their earnings and allowances from Brussels, and post them publicly on their websites.
In a major step for transparency, Busuttil said he is following the European Ombudsman’s recommendation to the European Parliament to disclose all allowances paid to MEPs – referring to the case filed by MaltaToday against the EP back in 2005.
The MEP has asked PN secretary-general Paul Borg Olivier to submit the guidelines for discussion and approval by the PN executive committee as soon as possible, so that the new rules would be in place ahead of the upcoming EP elections in June, and annexed to the MEPs’ code of ethics.
He is also proposing that MEPs repay any unused monies from their allowances back to the EP administration.
At the end of the year they will have to get their accounts audited and post them on their websites.
He is also proposing that MEPs are forbidden from recruiting in their office any family members, spouses, parents or children to be paid by the EP’s secretarial allowance – a practice that will be banned under the new Members Statute that will come into force in July.
“Whereas PN MEPs have consistently respected all established parliamentary rules on allowances, the rules themselves have attracted criticism for not being sufficiently transparent. Indeed, the European Ombudsman has called on the European Parliament to redress this situation,” Busuttil said.
In MaltaToday’s complaint, the Ombudsman had found the European Parliament’s refusal to grant the newspaper access to the allowances and expenses claimed by Malta’s five MEPs to be “a case of maladministration”.
The Ombudsman admonished the EP with a “critical remark” for failing to comply with MaltaToday’s request.
Transparency commitment
The rules, Busuttil says, will regulate the level of transparency that PN MEPs shall be required to follow with public funds placed at their disposal by the European Parliament.
PN candidates contesting the European Parliament election will have to bind themselves to respect the rules by signing a written commitment.
At the end of the year, they have to provide a statement of the total daily €287 subsistence allowances they received, details on how they spent the €48,624 general expenditure allowance, and declare how much of the €202,968 used for assistants’ salaries was not used up, and refunded back to the EP administration.
They will also have to submit details of their employees or service providers – who cannot be their family members.
MEPs will also have to submit a full statement of expenses for their travel to and from home and Brussels and Strasbourg.
Travel represents one of the more controversial aspects of the generous allowances paid to MEPs. In recent years, MEPs made thousands in euros by claiming a distance allowance: a sum paid for each air mile covered during their travel, apart from the reimbursement of their ticket cost.
But from July 2009, a reform will take place and travel reimbursements will be paid at cost.
Busuttil is proposing that MEPs have to provide a full statement of all expenses to and from their home and Brussels or Strasbourg, and other travel, and list any distance allowances separately.
He also wants PN MEPs to post their declaration of financial interest, listing all public and private offices they hold and any additional remuneration paid, on their websites.
They will then have to submit an annual set of accounts to a qualified auditor by January, and obtain certification from the auditor saying that the EP funds were used in full compliance with the rules and that any unused funds were duly repaid to the EP.
By the end of February of each year, they will have to post a “Transparency Commitment” form, which lists all expenses, and the auditor’s statement on their website in a manner that is visibly accessible to the public.
New statute
Busuttil’s commitment follows on his declaration last August to propose the transparency rules after the European Ombudsman declared that MEPs’ allowances should be made public by the European Parliament.
While the EP has jealously guarded the allowances it pays to MEPs, a new Members Statute in July 2009 will reform many anomalies in the system of payments.
Instead of being paid the same as MPs in their home countries, MEPs are to receive a gross monthly salary of €7,413.
Busuttil’s rules however omit any declaration with regards to MEP’s generous voluntary pension fund.
MEPs can opt to contribute to an additional European Parliament pension scheme with a personal contribution of some €930 per month, which is then matched by the Parliament.
Until 2008, the ‘personal’ contribution was deducted at source from MEPs’ general expenditure allowances that is used for office expenses, with no check made on whether the MEPs reimbursed the contribution from their own incomes.
The new reform ensures it is now deducted from MEPs’ private bank accounts. The voluntary pension fund will be phased out as from July 2009, replaced with a single pension scheme, but it seems existing MEPs will be able to pay into the fund for another five years.
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