More gravy please

I sincerely hope that Eddy Privitera and his fellow correspondents in the Eurosceptic camp do not read the Sunday Times of London as an article in a recent edition would have done nothing to lower their blood pressure!

An undercover investigation has revealed that many thousands of euros are being paid out to MEPs in allowances for non-existent parliamentary sessions. This investigation has been conducted, not by a journalist-seeking sensation, but by an Austrian MEP who is angry with the expenses claiming process.

The most common practice is for MEPs to attend parliament, sign on as attending and then leave for home immediately. Many visit to claim the allowance on Fridays, even though the parliament only sits Mondays to Thursdays.

In percentage terms, the top five countries with MEPs who sign on then leave within the hour are Ireland, Germany, Austria, Finland and the UK. The country with the least interest in aggrandisement is Greece. Perhaps Pat Cox's energies might be better employed lecturing his own group rather than the Maltese on how to be good Europeans!

The investigation also alleges that luminaries such as Glenys Kinnock have indulged in this practice on numerous occasions; again, as with Mr Cox perhaps her EU commissioner husband Neil may have a comment to make. After all, was it not Mr Kinnock who visited Malta recently to promote the EU and explain the benefits of membership - benefits that seem to accrue for them anyway? Incidentally, in the dim and distant past, I cannot recall either of the Kinnocks being EU enthusiasts, quite the reverse in fact.

Another MEP, Robert Goodwill views making a profit out of EU allowances as "a challenge as a capitalist" and apparently has claimed up to £500 for flights, then buys economy tickets, in addition to claiming attendance allowances of course.

I am not anti-EU and believe, on balance, that membership could be beneficial for Malta. Let me recount a personal experience. Some while back, I was contracted to devise and implement a training programme for SMEs in Essex. Funding was to come from several local sources and the European Social Fund (ESF). The application team decided to apply only for modest funding which in my view was wrong because if you do not ask you do not get. Their justification for modesty was because our area enjoyed full employment, had a high level of average earnings and was seen as a very prosperous part of East Anglia. The feeling was that the major EU funding would go to less well-off areas and the large conurbations.

It transpired that we got all the funding requested and were informed that had we applied for more, we would have got it. The areas which would have most benefited from the funds did not even apply for any and contact with some of them revealed they had no knowledge that funding was available!

I would hate to think that MEPs representing these constituencies, especially those in the most deprived areas, spent more time filling in their expense claims than ferreting around Brussels and Strasbourg for project funding. But it does make you wonder just what motives some of our representatives have and whether or not they represent the people or themselves and view the EU as a personal gravy train.