21 April 2009
Tom Wise MEP elected for UKIP in the Eastern Region of England is to be charged with fraud, read here.
Labels: MEP Fraud
17 April 2009
Britain second only to Poland with 79 per cent take-up of this rotten scheme according to this Open Europe Press Release:
Open Europe publishes list of Members of European Parliament paying into controversial second pension fund
17 April 2009
Following reports that taxpayers may be required to fill a £100 million hole (€113 million) left in a controversial pension fund available to Members of the European Parliament, Open Europe has tracked down a "closely guarded" secret list of those MEPs who are profiting from the fund.[1]
The list, dating from December 2007, and provided by German investigative journalist Hans-Martin Tillack, names 394 MEPs who had signed up to the scheme. Several MEPs have since left the scheme - so the figures reflect the numbers who were once or are still subscribing to the fund.
The list is not exhaustive, however, as reports suggest that 480 out of 785 MEPs are now signed up to the fund.[2]
The list shows that, in December 2007, 79 percent of all British MEPs were signed up to the scheme, including Labour, Conservative, Lib Dem and UKIP MEPs. 77 percent of Irish MEPs were signed up.
To see the full list of MEPs opting into the fund, as of December 2007, please click here:
http://www.openeurope.org.uk/research/MEPsvoluntarypensions.xls
Further national breakdowns:
Austria: 50 percent of MEPs
Belgium: 62 percent of MEPs
Bulgaria: 50 percent of MEPs
Cyprus: 50 percent of MEPs
Czech Republic: 17 percent of MEPs
Denmark: 57 percent of MEPs
Estonia: 33 percent of MEPs
Finland : 43 percent of MEPs
France: 28 percent of MEPs
Germany: 35 percent of MEPs
Greece: 54 percent of MEPs
Hungary: 37 percent of MEPs
Italy: 64 percent of MEPs
Latvia : 56 percent of MEPs
Lithuania : 46 percent of MEPs
Luxembourg : 50 percent of MEPs
Malta: 40 percent of MEPs
Netherlands: 11 percent of MEPs
Poland: 81 percent of MEPs
Portugal : 79 percent of MEPs
Romania : 6 percent of MEPs
Slovakia : 50 percent of MEPs
Slovenia : 71 percent of MEPs
Spain: 70 percent of MEPs
Sweden: 15 percent of MEPs
A separate list also reveals some former MEPs subscribed to the list, such as French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner and Finnish Foreign Minister Alexander Stubb.
Pieter Cleppe, Head of Open Europe's office in Brussels, said:
"The legality of this highly controversial fund has been repeatedly questioned over the last ten years by the European Court of Auditors - its very existence is problematic. Not only do taxpayers put in £2 for every £1 an MEP contributes, but it is not even clear that the MEP's own contribution actually comes out of their salary."
"As if that were not bad enough, now we find that taxpayers are also expected to foot the bill when its casino-style investments go wrong."
"At a time when everyday people are seeing their own pension pots dwindle in the recession, it is shocking that MEPs can imagine for one minute that taxpayers should make up the losses from this questionable and superfluous fund."
Labels: MEP pensions
