"MONEY FOR NOTHING...."

Please excuse the small amount of licence taken from Mark Knopfler`s song, but it seems appropriate, given the revelations about the non-disclosure of expenses claimed by Euro MPs.

The European Parliament came under mounting pressure last night to publish a secret report into the misuse of expenses by MEPs, which whistleblowers claim shows widespread abuse of taxpayers’ money. The few MEPs permitted to see the internal audit were alarmed after parliamentary officials said they had not called in EU anti-fraud investigators because they did not think it showed fraud.

The audit of 167 MEPs’ staff expenses found seven had set up private companies to pay staff who apparently did not exist and others employing unqualified family members or paying the whole allowance - a mind-boggling £11,710 a month to just one person. Moreover, the auditor found more than 20 Christmas bonuses hard to justify.

The report, which does not name any MEPs and is shrouded in secrecy, was drawn up by an internal auditor and can only be viewed by members on the budget control committee. So much for the taxpayer`s right to know how his taxes are being spent.

In what appears to be little more than a token gesture, there has been a recommendation that MEPs should no longer employ family members....although it is unlikely to result in any legal requirement not to do so. Just a recommendation.

There is a kind of greasy pole of authorities who seek to govern our lives, all of whom extort taxes from us. My local parish council has just raised it`s precept by a staggering 27%; then there is the local district council, the county council, the national government and now the European parliament. To their credit, local councillors` and national MPs expenses are now in the public domain, by and large, but it seems the European Parliament is reluctant to join in this openness. One wonders why. It seems that the higher the level of authority, the more money is extracted but the more the secrecy that surrounds it.

Now, it`s clear from my `Not So Keen On` list that the European Union is pretty high on my own personal agenda, so there`s no surprise in me picking up this latest example of the remoteness and arrogance of that institution. But you do wonder just how long it can go on.