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What do our MEPs have to hide?

Written by Libertas
Thursday, 24 April 2008
Irish MEP's should be asked to explain why they voted to suppress a report on corruption in the European Parliament, Libertas is saying today. Fine Gael and Labour MEPs voted against publication of the report, which detailed the findings of an enquiry into corruption in MEPs expense claims. Fianna Fail MEPs voted alongside their Fine Gael and Labour Colleagues, but later "changed their mind" in accordance with parliament rules. Independent MEP's Kathy Sinnott and Marian Harkin, along with Sinn Fein's Mary Lou MacDonald, voted to publish the report. Libertas executive director Naoise Nunn said that the votes of the Labour and Fine Gael MEPs were at odds with their stated commitment to increased transparency and accountability in Brussels: "This vote exemplifies everything that is wrong with the EU. The European Parliament is so divorced from reality that it thinks that it's ok to hide the truth about its own activities from the voters. Fine Gael and Labour have been telling the voters that the Lisbon treaty will be "reforming the structures and institutions of Europe". They say that it will make these institutions more transparent. In reality, these same MEPs are voting in lockstep with their European Colleagues to hide as much information from the ordinary citizen as possible. What does the Lisbon Treaty do to address problems like this one? Nothing. The truth is that our MEPs feel safe saying one thing to the Irish people and another thing to their European Colleagues, because they know that the institutions of Europe, even the parliament, are remote and disconnected from real political discourse in the member states. This is an abject disgrace. Further, I question why Fianna Fail MEPs initially voted to suppress this report, but then changed their mind after the vote and went so far as to ask that this repentance be formally acknowledged? The European Union's accounts have not been signed off for 13 years. Our own Government estimates that unnecessary regulation costs Irish Business over half a billion Euro every year. Now, we see the EU Parliament blatantly giving the middle finger to the electorate to whom they are allegedly accountable. The Lisbon Treaty will not change this one iota. We will still have an arrogant and unaccountable European Union, only this time around it will have to worry even less about the concerns of ordinary people, in whom sovereignty is allegedly vested. It will have more power, less responsibility, and at the top of it all will sit an unelected President, travelling the world in a private jet speaking for the people of Europe. In recent days we have seen the odds on a "No" vote slashed. Is it any wonder why?"