Open Europe press summary: 3 June 2009

Europe

Irish MEPs try to defend vote to keep expenses secret
The Irish Times reports that almost all Irish MEPs voted for an amendment to the so-called 'Cashman report' this year, to ensure that MEPs' expenses claims remained secret. The vote is featured in Open Europe's league table of MEPs. Open Europe's Mats Persson is quoted in the article saying, "No matter how MEPs present it, this amendment is a way to keep their expense receipts secret. It will prevent people from using the Cashman provisions to ask about expenses".

A spokeswoman for Fine Gael's five sitting MEPs said they supported the amendment because it related to data protection issues, and Independent MEP Kathy Sinnott said she voted for the amendment to ensure the rights of parliament staff to privacy of personal information.

However, Sinn Féin MEP Mary Lou McDonald, who also voted for the amendment, says in hindsight the vote may have been a mistake. "We were persuaded (by people with impeccable credentials) that the personal data protection aspect of the amendment seemed sufficiently important to warrant a vote in favour. In retrospect, the interpretation of this amendment relates very much to financial transparency and a vote against would have been more consistent with all our other votes on transparency".

Meanwhile, EUobserver looks at the rules governing MEPs' expenses, and notes, "MEPs have not helped themselves when it comes to their image however, often changing the rules only when pressure became too strong to withstand."

Hungarian Info Radio and MR1 radio also report on Open Europe's league table of MEPs.
Info Radio Irish Times: Smyth Open Europe press release EUobserver MR1

Labour MEP tops list of most travelled, with 127,500 air miles since 2005
The Express reports on Open Europe's findings that, since 2004, British MEPs have spent £248,404 on foreign trips and flown more than 1.2 million miles. It also reports that outgoing Labour MEP Glenys Kinnock has topped the table for most travelled British MEP, clocking up nearly 127,500 air miles since 2005. The article quotes Open Europe's Lorraine Mullally saying "Never mind the gravy train, the European Parliament is more like the gravy plane. MEPs are flying around the globe clocking up thousands of miles on dubious 'fact-finding' trips to luxurious locations."
Express

Retiring South-West MEPs to receive more than £220,000 in "golden goodbyes"
The Western Morning News reports that retiring South-West MEPs will receive
tax-free "golden goodbye" payouts totalling more than £221,000 to help them cope with 'normal life' on leaving the European Parliament. The article notes that 25-year veteran Conservative MEP Caroline Jackson will receive a transition payment of £129,528, with a pension worth an additional £35,973-a-year.

The paper also reports that the MEPs will benefit from payouts from the controversial second pension scheme, and quotes Open Europe's Sarah Gaskell saying, "The pension fund might be closing to new MEPs, but it will remain open to existing MEPs who are re-elected. For 20 years, MEPs have looked the other way and refused to put an end to this abuse of public money. The scheme should be immediately closed down, and any taxpayer funds contributed to it reimbursed to the EU budget."
Western Morning News Open Europe press release OE blog

EU 'information officer' meddles in expenses debate.
In response to a piece on the Guardian's Comment is Free website by Open Europe's Mats Persson, Dermot Scott, Head of the UK office of the European Parliament, has responded by defending the expenses system for MEPs and its incoming reforms.
Guardian: Scott OE blog Guardian: Persson

WSJ: "Wanted: MEPs to have 12 weeks holiday, plenty of perks and little accountability"
An article in the WSJ looks at the elections and writes: "Wanted: 736 Europeans to earn $120,000 a year with 12 weeks off, plenty of perks and little accountability." It goes on to say, "For a job with such sweet terms, getting elected isn't all that tough. Election turnout is so low - as low as 20% in some countries - that winning election can require little more than getting on a large party's ticket or appealing to niche constituencies."

The article also looks at the EP's Europarl TV channel, launched last year at a cost of $13 million, and only available on the internet. When asked how many hits it gets, an EU official is quoted saying, "You won't get me to answer that".
WSJ Irish Times: Leader

European Commission faces €30 billion employee pension hole
Dutch daily De Telegraaf reports that the European Commission faces a deficit in its pension liabilities. The pensions are paid directly from the EU budget, and EU bureaucrats only have to pay one third of the real costs of the pensions, estimating the pension burden to amount to €30 billion over the next 20 years. The paper questions whether taxpayers are aware of this because in the Netherlands, bureaucrats need to save for their own pensions. It also states that it is not normal that member states should pay for the pension hole of the European Commission, adding "EU member states are not entitled to ask other juridisctions to pay for their costs related to ageing".
Telegraaf

Guardian calls for Brown to step down;
Times backs Conservatives
A leader in the Guardian concludes: "Labour has a year left before an election; its current leader would waste it. It is time to cut him loose." Meanwhile, a leader in the Times argues that: "No party has made a convincing case for the purpose of the EU but the Conservative Party is the only viable choice".

It says: "Of the two largest parties, Labour ruled itself out by the refusal to redeem its manifesto promise to hold a referendum on the European Constitution. It is specious to argue that the Lisbon Treaty is so different from the original Constitution that the promise is now redundant. The two documents are all but identical and the pretence that they are different is an unworthy attempt to smuggle in a treaty comprehensively rejected by the people of Europe. The saga of the Constitution is a parable of the detachment of the European elite from the people that needs to be corrected. The failure to grasp this basic point disqualifies Labour from serious consideration."
Guardian Times: Leader

Cameron pledges to use EU budget talks to negotiate return of powers to the UK
EUobserver quotes David Cameron saying he would use upcoming EU budget talks to try to negotiate for return of powers to the UK. He said: "If we had a Conservative government, we would be going into those negotiations with a list of powers we wanted to have returned to the UK. There's an important negotiation coming up on the future funding of the EU and I don't want to see us increasing the funding at all, but it gives us enormous leverage in terms of making sure we get a good deal for Britain." According to the FT, Shadow Foreign Secretary William Hague said yesterday: "The most important issue for Britain is social and employment legislation. That is why it will be a major goal of the next Conservative government to restore national control over this area."

EUobserver also reports that the Conservatives' proposed new grouping in the European Parliament is heading for at least 50 seats in the elections. The FT reports that the EEF manufacturers' body has criticised the plan to remove the Conservatives from the EPP group, while the Guardian looks at who the potential partners are likely to be.

Open Europe's Pieter Cleppe is quoted in Dutch daily De Pers, commenting on the plan to form a European Conservatives and Reformists Group in the European Parliament, predicting that this would increase the influence of the centre-right in the assembly and that it would also raise the pressure on the Dutch and German centre-right parties.
De Pers Euractiv EUobserver FT EurActiv 2 Guardian

German Chancellor criticises central banks' monetary policies
The FT reports that German Chancellor Angela Merkel yesterday criticised the world's main central banks in surprisingly strong terms, suggesting that their unconventional monetary policies could aggravate, rather than ease the economic crisis. Merkel told a conference in Berlin: "What other central banks have been doing must be reversed. I am very sceptical about the extent of the Fed's actions and the way the Bank of England has carved its own little line in Europe." She added that "even the European Central Bank has somewhat bowed to international pressure with its purchase of covered bonds," and concluded saying: "we must return to independent and sensible monetary policies, otherwise we will be back to where we are now in 10 years' time."

The newspaper notes that Merkel's decision to ignore one of the cardinal rules of German politics - an unwritten ban on commenting on monetary policy out of respect for central bank independence - suggests Berlin is far more concerned about the ECB's approach than has so far been apparent. It also reports that it is likely that Germany will have to account for about 25 percent of the €60 billion covered bond purchase scheme.FT FT: Munchau Independent Independent: Warner Mail EUobserver El Pais WSJ Eurointelligence

German Foreign Minister in favour of eurozone policy co-ordination
Germany's Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier has said in a speech in Budapest that he is in favour of closer co-ordination within the eurozone with regard to wage policy, social policy and taxation, Forbes reports. "Divergent economic developments among euro zone members could jeopardise the stability of the currency" he said, taking a position in opposition to Chancellor Merkel, who has persistently opposed any such co-ordination fearing it would lead to a separation between the EU and the eurozone.
Forbes

McRae: Most voters are not bothered enough to trust or distrust the EU
Writing in the Independent, Hamish McRae argues that, "We in the UK are having to confront the collective failure of UK political leadership right now and one of the tasks of the next UK Parliament will be to rebuild trust in political institutions. In the European parliament the trust has never really been there in the first place. Or if that sounds unfair, most European voters have not been sufficiently interested to bother about trusting or distrusting the institution and its people."

Meanwhile, an article in the FT looks at tomorrow's European elections and argues that, "More than any other European institution, the parliament would benefit from the passage of the Lisbon treaty", but warns that it will be hard for MEPs to claim an "elevated role", if only a fraction of EU citizens bother to vote.
Independent: McRae FT FT 2

Writing in the Guardian, Spanish Prime Minister José Luis Zapatero has declared his support for Gordon Brown, and argues, "European and especially British ­voters must realise, as Gordon Brown has reminded us, that the United ­Kingdom needs Europe - but also that Europe needs the UK".
Le Figaro Guardian

The unemployment rate in the eurozone has risen to 9.2 percent, its highest level in nearly ten years.
FT BBC

European Voice reports that eight former socialist leaders of Germany, France, Spain, Portugal, Poland, Austria, Finland and Greece have called on the Party of European Socialists to put forward an alternative candidate to Jose Manuel Barroso for Commission President.
European Voice Coulisses de Bruxelles

Liberation reports that Angel Gurria, Secretary-General of the OECD, yesterday announced that only the threat of sanctions will make tax havens cooperate.
Libération

Le Figaro reports that French Finance Minister Christine Lagarde has argued that the EU should be more flexible regarding budget deficits during the economic crisis. Lagarde said "We should think about a special treatment for the debts currently acquired as a consequence of the crisis," but added that she has "no precise answer how we should proceed, but we need a debate."
Le Figaro EUobserver

An article in the Guardian looks at the political fortunes of UKIP, and argues that, "Ukip appears to be cashing in on the anger generated by the MPs' expenses revelations, even though it is not immune to questions of misusing public money."
Guardian


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