Strasbourg, 24/10/2002 (Agence Europe) - Jens-Peter Bonde, President of the Group of a Europe of Democracies and Diversities at the European Parliament, considered it "outrageous" that the Conference of Presidents of the political groups had prevented the Budgetary Control Committee from hearing the former European Commission official, Marta Andreasen, who had denounced the shortcomings of the Commission's accounting system (see yesterday's EUROPE, p.11). "The Parliament's governing body has overruled a unanimous decision" by the Budgetary Control Committee, he pointed out indignantly, asking: "What is the point in having a budgetary scrutiny committee if it is not allowed to scrutinise?". Diemut Theato, CDU member and Chair of the Committee, reproached a majority of presidents of political groups, mainly left-wing, for having taken such a negative position unlike the Christian Democrats. She said their intention was to discover any shortcomings that might exist in the European Commission's accounting system, and recalled that the Budgetary Control Committee had also the intention to invite Budget Commissioner Michaele Schreyer later.