EU ombudsman sees more transparency at Parliament

The head of the European Union's internal watchdog today welcomed proposals to publish information on expenses and allowances of members of the European Parliament to counter perceptions of abuse.

European Union Ombudsman Nikiforos Diamandouros said details of how much money EU lawmakers spend on travel and payments to staff were "until very recently a closely guarded secret". By proposing to publish rules on expenses and allowances and the overall amounts paid, he said the parliament "has gone considerably beyond where it was in the past".

The assembly, which has powers in over 80 percent of EU issues, ranging from transport and environment to the internal market, launched a plan last year to tackle its "gravy train" image. But the EU's anti-fraud unit said in February that it would scrutinise how lawmakers pay their office staff. Staff pay accounts for 140 million euros ($220 million) a year, about 10 percent of the assembly's budget.

Calls for transparency grew after a Maltese journalist complained in 2005 after being refused details of five Maltese EU lawmakers' finances on grounds of data protection.

Diamandouros has asked parliament to grant access to the information, while deleting the names of the MEPs' assistants. His annual report, published today, said complaints about EU institutions in general had fallen 16 percent in 2007 to 3,211. But there was a higher number of admissible complaints, thanks in part to campaigns to make Europeans more aware of the ombudsman's role. Diamandouros said he was concerned that his office had criticised the institutions 55 times in 2007, and that he hoped a reform of laws on public access to EU documents would help to make the institutions more transparent.

Recommendations by the ombudsman are non-binding but are normally followed by the EU's institutions.(Reuters)