Brussels, 30/03/2000 (Agence Europe) - One day after the handing over to the Presidents of the political groups, by President Nicole Fontaine, of the preliminary report by the EU's Court of Auditors on the spending by the European Parliament's political groups (see yesterday's EUROPE, p.4), Bart Staes (Green, Belgium) asked, in plenary, if the report would be made public. Mrs. Fontaine answered that, following the "contradictory procedure," she handed the report to the heads of the political groups asking them to make observations: I do not think that it is for the Parliament's Presidency to pass this report to the press, she added.
The President of the Socialist group, Enrique Baron, told the press that his group welcomed this report: we received it last night and, as far as we are concerned, it only contains "notes on details." Yes, the new report contains a new more detailed section, confirmed Mr. Baron, while stating that it was necessary so that the Court of Auditors may carry out their work correctly. Our group has only "some minor problems", he repeated. While speaking in favour of maximum transparency in this affair, Mr. Baron added that it is necessary to "respect procedures" and "work seriously". Finally he spoke of the wider problem of "our relations with the European political parties," recalling that the European Socialist Party, the European Peoples Party, the European Liberals and the Greens asked the European Commission to make a proposals in view of adopting a statue of European political parties, so giving substance to Article 191 of the Treaty: presently we are not in a state of "illegality," but "a-legality," he noted.
As for the President of the Liberal group Pat Cox he noted in a press release that, in a additional table handed to the Parliament, the Court of Auditors uses a "points" system according to which "0" shows there are not problems, while a "4" represents serious and persistent problems. The Liberal group received a "4" from the Court, revealed Mr. Cox, who indicated that they accuse the group of having paid its staff for journeys to Strasbourg a compensation that was a little higher than the motorway tolls. "This practice will end immediately", announced Mr. Cox, while noting that the total amount implicated is EUR 3,500 per year or 0.14% of the groups spending and that the allocation of the most sever "point" for such a problem seems "rather subjective…." We also got a "3" due to the general problem of financing of the European Political parties, added Mr. Cox, while recalling that the Liberals "actively worked with other political groups" to find a solution to this problem. Finally Mr. Cox called for a report by the Court of Auditors for 2000, "to be able to see the progress of reforms."