Group of Journalists Call on EU MPs to Come Clean Over Expense Claims

Whether it is personal assistants, office rent, telephone bills or travel costs, a bunch of journalists are calling on Members of the European Parliament to come clean over their expenses claims.

A group of 29 journalists are taking the European Parliament to court in the hope to make their expense claims more clear to taxpayers.

29 journalists are taking @Europarl_EN to court. Find out why: https://t.co/tQosBMYVQb #MEPsProject #FOI pic.twitter.com/yDEmE3rFTK

— Transparency Int. EU (@TI_EU) November 20, 2015​

Slovenian journalist Aunska Delic, leader of the group, said MEP's allowances "should not be allowed to remain hidden from the European public." According to the group, MPs pay and expenses which total more than US$502 million (€474m).

A statement from the group said:

"The complete absence of monitoring of MEP's general allowances… raises serious doubts that other spending by the 751 MEPs is monitored in a transparent, responsible and verifiable manner."

The group say the European Parliament has repeatedly refused to grant requests for information on how MEPs spend their US$31,747 (€30,000) a month allowance.

We want the @Europarl_EN @Europarl_ES to be accountable #MEPsProject https://t.co/skOcNoV6Vc

— Marcos García Rey (@garcirrey) November 20, 2015​

The group has gathered support from Transparency International (TI) who has reiterated calls for the European Parliament to release documents showing what MEPs spend their allowance on.

Formal investigations in previous years reveals that an MEP was jailed for using office expenses to buy a car and cases of wine to alleged fraud for overpaying domestic political party staff.

"The European Parliament lags far behind other parliamentary bodies, such as Sweden and the UK, when it comes to the transparency of parliamentary expenses," said Carl Dolan, Director of Transparency International EU."

"There are clear risks of fraud, involving taxpayer money that even the Parliament's own internal watchdog has highlighted. The Parliament should be routinely providing information on how these public funds are spent rather than putting obstacles in the way of journalists." 

The head of the EU Parliament, Germany's Martin Schulz has recently been accused by colleagues of wasting public money after a report revealed he had two limousines, two chauffeur's and 33 assistants.