12/01/2007 (Agence Europe) - According to reports in the daily Le Figaro, Joseph Daul (EPP-ED, France) - who has just been elected president of the EPP-ED Group at the European Parliament (see EUROPE 9341) - failed to inform colleagues from his political group that he may be asked sometime in the future to go before the court in France concerning a question of embezzlement of public funds. The French federation for beef and veal production, of which Mr Daul was president during the 1990s, is said to have used agricultural funds to finance the FNSEA, the main French farmers' trade union. Closed in 2000, the affair could be referred to a magistrate's court. (mb)