EU fraud

Further to my blog about EU payments fraud amongst MEPs I now read that "Senior MEPs have declared that a secret report finding "massive suspicion of fraud" in European Parliament funding worth £100 million a year will never see the light of day...Herbert Bösch, chairman of the parliament's budgetary control committee, refused a demand from 11 of his colleagues for the report to be published.

"I made it available to members of this committee. I did my job," he said. "It is in the hands of the bureau to publish this."

Mr Bösch defended the parliament's culture of secrecy surrounding public money paid to MEPs for generous staff and travel allowances.

"I will refuse any demands to have a look at my journeys and trips," he said. "Some things should not be published."

José Javier Pomes Ruiz, a senior Spanish centre-right MEP, attacked Chris Davies, his British Liberal Democrat colleague, for talking to the press about the report.

"The aim is to get press coverage and to bring the parliament down. MEPs have the democratic right to manage their funds whichever way they want," he said."


Does the phrase "secretive scum" cover my views?