The amount of information that members of an elected institution provide to the people who vote for them is one indication of how responsive to voters’ concerns they are – and that, of course, is an indication of how democratic the institution itself is. By that measure, the European Parliament is failing so badly that it’s doubtful whether it deserves to be called a fully democratic institution at all. As we reveal today, each MEP costs an average of £370,000 a year, when their expenses are included — and yet there is no requirement for MEPs to provide any details at all of how they spend the money they are given. When this newspaper tried to discover what sort of value for money British MEPs provide to the people who elect them, we were initially frustrated by the failure of the European Parliament to disclose records on anything except each MEP’s attendance at the assembly’s plenary sessions and, on some occasions, how he or she voted. MEPs have repeatedly blocked measures that would have forced them to reveal even the most basic details of how they spend the money they claim. So to find out what British MEPs claimed, we were almost entirely dependent on voluntary declarations. What information does enter the public domain suggests a culture of naked greed. At a time when every country in the EU is having to restrict public expenditure, MEPs have been clamouring – against the opposition of national leaders – to increase the Union’s budget, and have just voted themselves a backdated increase in their salary and benefits. If Europe’s parliament wants the respect and support of the people who pay for it, MEPs are going to have to do a lot better than this. Adopting the same level of transparency as has been forced upon the House of Commons would be a good place to start.An unrestrained culture of greed
Telegraph View: The European Parliament is a travesty of a transparent
democratic institution
Sunday, 19 December 2010
Posts
