News

25th September 2003

Conservative MEPs fighting EU fraud

This week in the European Parliament, two reports have been shown to MEPs which uncover a complete breakdown of financial control in the European Commission. The investigation into Eurostat, the Commission's statistical agency, found slush funds, secret accounts and inflated and fictitious contracts that were ordered following a whistleblower's comments in 2001 and a subsequent audit.

John Bowis, Conservative Member of the European Parliament for London said, "Neil Kinnock, the Commissioner in charge of administrative reform, set up a Taskforce in July to look into the scandal, and reported this week. The report accepted that there had been a breakdown in communication between the department and the Commissioner in charge, Pedro Solbes. It did, however, whitewash many of the issues blaming them on the previous European Commission.

"Despite the claims by Solbes and Kinnock that the mismanagement and fraud had been taking place during the previous Commission which resigned in 1999, the findings detail that some of the secret accounts remained open till as recent as July 2003.

"Conservative MEPs have been leading the fight against fraud in the EU from the beginning. I believe the only solution left is for Commissioner Solbes to resign and for Commissioners Kinnock and Schreyer to answer some serious questions.

"It is clear that taxpayers' money has been subject to an unacceptably high exposure to the risk of fraud. Someone has got to take some responsibility."