27 April 2004
Five Years at the Trough is Enough! - Re-elect No Sitting MEP!
I have received this contribution in response to our earlier posting as to what MEP really stands for:-
MEPs
Men of Early Principle,
Made in English Parishes;
Marched to Ends Political
by Mouthing Easy Platitudes
and Making Empty Promises,
they Misled the Earnest Populace
and Moved to Ersatz Parliament,
with Meal Expenses Paid
from Milking Every Pensioner
while Making Europe Poorer
their Motto Emerged Promptly
to Money Equals Pleasure!!!
For Mugging English People
on 10th June - Make 'Em Pay.
Anon (First published here, 27th April 2004)
I have received this contribution in response to our earlier posting as to what MEP really stands for:-
MEPs
Men of Early Principle,
Made in English Parishes;
Marched to Ends Political
by Mouthing Easy Platitudes
and Making Empty Promises,
they Misled the Earnest Populace
and Moved to Ersatz Parliament,
with Meal Expenses Paid
from Milking Every Pensioner
while Making Europe Poorer
their Motto Emerged Promptly
to Money Equals Pleasure!!!
For Mugging English People
on 10th June - Make 'Em Pay.
Anon (First published here, 27th April 2004)
26 April 2004
MEP: What Does it Mean to You?
Massing Excess Perks?
Meals Expenses & Privileges?
Mendacious Egotistical & Pointless?
Send us your ideas for inclusion here!
Massing Excess Perks?
Meals Expenses & Privileges?
Mendacious Egotistical & Pointless?
Send us your ideas for inclusion here!
More MEP Fraudsters
Catherine Stihler Scottish MEP
Neena Gill MEP West Midlands
Eryl Mcnally MEP Eastern Region
Gordon Adam MEP North East (See Journal Article linked from here).
Nine out of fifteen Irish MEPs Involved (Read Report in Irish Examiner)
Do Not Send Them Back, they have gorged enough at your expense, and achieved NOTHING!.
An interesting item from our new link 'EU Fraud' on the right hand side bar, where there is much, much more:-
Quote
A FORMER IRISH television journalist with the gift of the gab has some explaining to do when he sits down in Copenhagen with the leaders of the European Union. The unfortunate Pat Cox, a reforming liberal whose august post is the pride of Ireland, will be hauled over the coals because the European Parliament continues to shower its members with millions of pounds of taxpayers cash every year. The hope of imminent reform has now been shot down by a German-led offensive that keeps the Strasbourg gravy train firmly on track. One Eurosceptic British member calculates that, exploited to the hilt and allowing for taxes, an MEP's package equates to a UK income of £250,000 a year. "Everyone is on the take, because it's perfectly legal," he says. The tale is not really about fraud because you do not have to cheat. For example, MEPs are reimbursed the cost of a weekly first or business class return air fare from their constituencies to Brussels and Strasbourg, whatever the actual ticket cost. An extra 20 per cent is added for "extras". Daniel Hannan, a Conservative MEP, says: "If you have an imaginative travel agent and you are prepared to do back-to-back tickets staying over a Saturday night, you could easily make £600 a week from the UK. In a sense you have no choice but to do it. And if you admit to giving it away, then the parliament will come after you. This is the really corrupting effect." He is referring to the only case in which money-minders in Brussels have seriously pursued an MEP for abuse. Nigel Farage, one of two members from the UK Independence Party (UKIP), was asked last year to return 10,500 after he handed over unspent travel money to anti-EU causes, including a London butcher who defied the ban on selling beef on the bone. "They said I was defrauding European taxpayers, which I thought was delightfully upside down," a gleeful Farage says. He explains that, with Ryanair flying from Stansted to Strasbourg, "they are giving me £700 for a trip that's costing me £40". Travel remains the chief fount of easy money, but there are plenty of others. The flat rate £160 daily allowance for time spent in Brussels or Strasbourg is notorious. Lucrative earnings can also be banked from the office and staff allowances, MEPs say. Members receive a flat £2,250 a month for office expenses and £7,650 a month to pay staff. Contracts must be shown to claim the staff allowance, but the requirements are minimal. Many MEPs also employ family members and argue that there is nothing wrong with the practice. Like all matters touching this unloved assembly, the picture is not black and white. For Germany, France and much of the southern continent the quarrel has gone unnoticed because the gravy train is simply not news. While Herr Rothley worries about dignity, the endless postponement of reform is now seen by many as hugely damaging to the whole function of the pan-European legislature. In Britain, the damage runs deep. (The Times December 13, 2002)
Unquote
Catherine Stihler Scottish MEP
Neena Gill MEP West Midlands
Eryl Mcnally MEP Eastern Region
Gordon Adam MEP North East (See Journal Article linked from here).
Nine out of fifteen Irish MEPs Involved (Read Report in Irish Examiner)
Do Not Send Them Back, they have gorged enough at your expense, and achieved NOTHING!.
An interesting item from our new link 'EU Fraud' on the right hand side bar, where there is much, much more:-
Quote
A FORMER IRISH television journalist with the gift of the gab has some explaining to do when he sits down in Copenhagen with the leaders of the European Union. The unfortunate Pat Cox, a reforming liberal whose august post is the pride of Ireland, will be hauled over the coals because the European Parliament continues to shower its members with millions of pounds of taxpayers cash every year. The hope of imminent reform has now been shot down by a German-led offensive that keeps the Strasbourg gravy train firmly on track. One Eurosceptic British member calculates that, exploited to the hilt and allowing for taxes, an MEP's package equates to a UK income of £250,000 a year. "Everyone is on the take, because it's perfectly legal," he says. The tale is not really about fraud because you do not have to cheat. For example, MEPs are reimbursed the cost of a weekly first or business class return air fare from their constituencies to Brussels and Strasbourg, whatever the actual ticket cost. An extra 20 per cent is added for "extras". Daniel Hannan, a Conservative MEP, says: "If you have an imaginative travel agent and you are prepared to do back-to-back tickets staying over a Saturday night, you could easily make £600 a week from the UK. In a sense you have no choice but to do it. And if you admit to giving it away, then the parliament will come after you. This is the really corrupting effect." He is referring to the only case in which money-minders in Brussels have seriously pursued an MEP for abuse. Nigel Farage, one of two members from the UK Independence Party (UKIP), was asked last year to return 10,500 after he handed over unspent travel money to anti-EU causes, including a London butcher who defied the ban on selling beef on the bone. "They said I was defrauding European taxpayers, which I thought was delightfully upside down," a gleeful Farage says. He explains that, with Ryanair flying from Stansted to Strasbourg, "they are giving me £700 for a trip that's costing me £40". Travel remains the chief fount of easy money, but there are plenty of others. The flat rate £160 daily allowance for time spent in Brussels or Strasbourg is notorious. Lucrative earnings can also be banked from the office and staff allowances, MEPs say. Members receive a flat £2,250 a month for office expenses and £7,650 a month to pay staff. Contracts must be shown to claim the staff allowance, but the requirements are minimal. Many MEPs also employ family members and argue that there is nothing wrong with the practice. Like all matters touching this unloved assembly, the picture is not black and white. For Germany, France and much of the southern continent the quarrel has gone unnoticed because the gravy train is simply not news. While Herr Rothley worries about dignity, the endless postponement of reform is now seen by many as hugely damaging to the whole function of the pan-European legislature. In Britain, the damage runs deep. (The Times December 13, 2002)
Unquote
Glenys Kinnock Britain's Champion MEP Fraudster
EU Commission Vice-President Neil Kinnock's wife Glenys is fingered as the biggest fraudster amongst the bunch of Britain's ever troughing and time wasting MEPs. As reported further down this page linked here an Austrian MEP has secretly been spying on his colleagues and this morning The Sun reports that it is Mrs Kinnock whose family, with both members firmly aboard the Gravy Train, would hardly seem to need the cash, who has been amongst the biggest perpetrator of the scam - and has been caught on film in the act!
The full report from the newspaper is linked from here states:-
And she is among 36 British MEPs caught in a two-year probe in Brussels.
The names of the others will be brought to you here!
Is there anybody returning from any kind of employment within the EU free of taint I wonder?
EU Commission Vice-President Neil Kinnock's wife Glenys is fingered as the biggest fraudster amongst the bunch of Britain's ever troughing and time wasting MEPs. As reported further down this page linked here an Austrian MEP has secretly been spying on his colleagues and this morning The Sun reports that it is Mrs Kinnock whose family, with both members firmly aboard the Gravy Train, would hardly seem to need the cash, who has been amongst the biggest perpetrator of the scam - and has been caught on film in the act!
The full report from the newspaper is linked from here states:-
And she is among 36 British MEPs caught in a two-year probe in Brussels.
The names of the others will be brought to you here!
Is there anybody returning from any kind of employment within the EU free of taint I wonder?
15 April 2004
MEPS TURN ON MARTIN
This report was taken from the latest European Foundation Intelligence Digest Number 190 15/4/04:-
MEPs from all parties have closed ranks and attacked their colleague, Hans-Peter Martin, who claimed to have documented thousands of instances of MEPs fraudulently claiming their per diems. Martin, a former editor of the magazine, Der Spiegel, who has been expelled from the Austrian Social Democratic Party for ratting on his comrades, confirmed in an interview on Monday that he had documented thousands of cases of corruption. MEPs signed on for their daily payments without then attending any debates or even necessarily remaining in Brussels or Strasbourg. With astonishing chutzpah, the chairman of the German CDU MEPs, Elmar Brok, said that Martin was suffering from a fundamental misunderstanding, namely that the per diems were not payments for taking part in debates or sittings. MEPs get €262 a day for doing whatever they like, it seems. [Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, 30th March 2004]
This report was taken from the latest European Foundation Intelligence Digest Number 190 15/4/04:-
MEPs from all parties have closed ranks and attacked their colleague, Hans-Peter Martin, who claimed to have documented thousands of instances of MEPs fraudulently claiming their per diems. Martin, a former editor of the magazine, Der Spiegel, who has been expelled from the Austrian Social Democratic Party for ratting on his comrades, confirmed in an interview on Monday that he had documented thousands of cases of corruption. MEPs signed on for their daily payments without then attending any debates or even necessarily remaining in Brussels or Strasbourg. With astonishing chutzpah, the chairman of the German CDU MEPs, Elmar Brok, said that Martin was suffering from a fundamental misunderstanding, namely that the per diems were not payments for taking part in debates or sittings. MEPs get €262 a day for doing whatever they like, it seems. [Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, 30th March 2004]
12 April 2004
Corruption Five Years On
Follow this link to read what was said about EU Corruption over five years ago:-
"Frying big fish insufficient to tackle EU corruption,"
Root and branch structural reform called for
Berlin, 16 March 1999
Transparency International has welcomed the resignation of the EU Commission but has called for a sweeping review of the European Union's anti-corruption system. "The EU as well as the IOC corruption scandals show that the issue of corruption has finally aroused European public indignation," said the chairman of the international anti-corruption organisation, Dr Peter Eigen.
Corruption can no longer be viewed as being simply a problem of the South and East, and which has long been fuelled by the activities of Western European exporters but is a problem, too, at the very heart of Western Europe. "Having systematically fed the monster for generations, Europe is now falling victim to it," Eigen said.
And what has been done since - NOTHING Follow the European Parliamentary debate on 21st April regarding the Eurostat scandal. A debate that the European Peoples Party, the largest grouping in the European Parliament (which Michael Howard's Conservatives are committed to rejoin after the June elections) tried to squash by having their members withdraw their names from the motion calling for the debate, depriving it of the 63 votes required! What other MEP Parties would not sign the motion? Watch this space for further reports.
Follow this link to read what was said about EU Corruption over five years ago:-
"Frying big fish insufficient to tackle EU corruption,"
Root and branch structural reform called for
Berlin, 16 March 1999
Transparency International has welcomed the resignation of the EU Commission but has called for a sweeping review of the European Union's anti-corruption system. "The EU as well as the IOC corruption scandals show that the issue of corruption has finally aroused European public indignation," said the chairman of the international anti-corruption organisation, Dr Peter Eigen.
Corruption can no longer be viewed as being simply a problem of the South and East, and which has long been fuelled by the activities of Western European exporters but is a problem, too, at the very heart of Western Europe. "Having systematically fed the monster for generations, Europe is now falling victim to it," Eigen said.
And what has been done since - NOTHING Follow the European Parliamentary debate on 21st April regarding the Eurostat scandal. A debate that the European Peoples Party, the largest grouping in the European Parliament (which Michael Howard's Conservatives are committed to rejoin after the June elections) tried to squash by having their members withdraw their names from the motion calling for the debate, depriving it of the 63 votes required! What other MEP Parties would not sign the motion? Watch this space for further reports.
11 April 2004
A Real Anti-EU Communication
Cllr Steve Radford
Chairman of The Liberal Party
41 Sutton Street
Tuebrook
Liverpool
L13 7EG
0151 259 5935
Dear Friends,
As the CIB holds its AGM in the coming week, on behalf of The Liberal Party, may I send an open message of support and thanks.
Whilst The Liberal Party calls for a Commonwealth of Europe and fundamental reform of the current EU, Liberal Party members have genuine differences how this may be best achieved.
Many of us believe, the threat of withdrawal from the EU, would be the only way to bring about real change.
To the CIB we wish to express our thanks for providing an all party and non-partisan platform for people who are critical of the EU.
The CIB Magazine Liberty News has been welcoming to contributors from across the political spectrum.
Here in the West Derby and Tuebrook Constituency, we have now delivered a second round of 15,000 copies of Liberty News. This maximises the public debate, which is critical of the EU, reaching people of all and no political affiliation.
I make no apology in commenting, with extra financial support we would extend this project further afield and reach a broader audience, not just in Liverpool.
To the Officers of CIB may I express my personal thanks for their co-operation and best wishes for future campaigning.
Cllr Steve Radford
Chairman of The Liberal Party
Cllr Steve Radford
Chairman of The Liberal Party
41 Sutton Street
Tuebrook
Liverpool
L13 7EG
0151 259 5935
Dear Friends,
As the CIB holds its AGM in the coming week, on behalf of The Liberal Party, may I send an open message of support and thanks.
Whilst The Liberal Party calls for a Commonwealth of Europe and fundamental reform of the current EU, Liberal Party members have genuine differences how this may be best achieved.
Many of us believe, the threat of withdrawal from the EU, would be the only way to bring about real change.
To the CIB we wish to express our thanks for providing an all party and non-partisan platform for people who are critical of the EU.
The CIB Magazine Liberty News has been welcoming to contributors from across the political spectrum.
Here in the West Derby and Tuebrook Constituency, we have now delivered a second round of 15,000 copies of Liberty News. This maximises the public debate, which is critical of the EU, reaching people of all and no political affiliation.
I make no apology in commenting, with extra financial support we would extend this project further afield and reach a broader audience, not just in Liverpool.
To the Officers of CIB may I express my personal thanks for their co-operation and best wishes for future campaigning.
Cllr Steve Radford
Chairman of The Liberal Party
