Strasbourg, 31/03/2004 (Agence Europe) - Austrian non-attached member Hans-Peter Martin repeated on Wednesday during a press conference on the sidelines of the European Parliament plenary session his accusations about the behaviour of German MEPs when it comes to costs. He reproaches them for taking advantage of the Per Diem system by signing the attendance register without in fact attending a meeting at the European Parliament (see yesterday's EUROPE also, p.6).
Speaking at his press conference, Mr Martin distributed two lists of names. The first is made up of the names of 57 German MEPs of all political groups who, he says, signed the attendance register although they had spent less than one hour at the European Parliament. For the most part, there are only what one can consider the workers on this list. Among them are, notably, the Chairman of the Committee on Foreign Affairs, Elmar Brok (CDU), the Green member Friedrich-Wilhelm Graefe zu Baringdorf, Social Democrat Karin Jöns, Sylvia-Yvonne Kaufmann (PDS), Social Democrat Jo Leinen, Hartmut Nassauer (CDU), President of the EPP-ED Group Hans-Gert Pöttering, the Chair of the Committee on Economic and Monetary Affairs, Christa Randzio-Plath (SPD), and the Chairman of the SPD delegation, Martin Schulz.
The second list includes 43 names of German MEPs whom Mr Martin criticises for having signed the register on Friday morning in Strasbourg although the session ended on Thursday evening. This possibility was maintained after the Friday morning sitting was cancelled, officially to cover the costs of MEPs who had been prevented from leaving Strasbourg on Thursday evening.
EUROPE recalls that, for many years, most MEPs at the Friday morning sittings have been German, this now being the case for Thursday afternoon. It is therefore not surprising to find Mr Martin's list includes someone like Bernd Posselt (CSU), who is known for his defence of the Strasbourg seat of the European Parliament and who is generally present until the very last minute of the plenary session.