European Parliament asks OLAF for report on Dalli

The Budgetary Control Committee should have “adequate access” to the contents of an OLAF report which unseated John Dalli as European Commissioner, the European Parliament’s top echelons said yesterday.

The Dalli issue was again raised yesterday during a meeting of the Conference of Presidents, which comprises the presidents of all the political groups represented at the EU Chamber.

The conference decided that EP president Martin Schulz should write to Commission president José Manuel Barroso to obtain more clarifications on the circumstances which led to Mr Dalli’s resignation and to seek access to the OLAF report which, so far, has been kept under wraps. “MEPs want access to the contents of the OLAF report as presented to Mr Barroso. Due to the sensitivity of this report, MEPs will accept to have access to the report in a closed room and after signing a confidentiality declaration. However, MEPs need to see the evidence against Mr Dalli,” sources close to the EP told The Times.

Despite various calls by MEPs, the international media and Mr Dalli himself, the investigation report has not yet been published.

During a closed-doors meeting with the group coordinators of the EP ’s Budgetary Control Committee, OLAF director general Giovanni Kessler said it was not up to the EU’s anti-fraud agency to publish the report. However, he insisted his organisation would not object if the Maltese authorities decide to make its contents public.