Marta Andreasen suspended Aug02 |
Marta Andreasen, the European Commission's former Chief
Accountant, has today been suspended from all duties by the Commission
following her request made on Monday to see the accounts and bank
statements of the Commission before signing them off as she had been asked
to do in July. Bashir Khanbhai, Conservative MEP for the East of England
has described the suspension as "disgraceful" and a
"blatant admission of failure". A cross party collection of MEPs
now intends to raise this matter at Monday's meeting of the Parliament's
Budgetary Control Committee and call for Ms. Andreasen to give evidence
before Parliament. A letter published today, from the European Commission,
provides alarming evidence that Commissioner Neil Kinnock has been trying
to suspend her for some months. Amazingly, the letter also admits that the
hearing in which Marta Andreasen will be told of her suspension
"would not deal with the fundamental issues which you raise in
relation to financial management and regulation". Commenting on today's news, Mr Khanbhai said: "It
just shows how far the Commission are prepared to go to silence their
critics. They are showing no intention of addressing the issues raised by
Marta Andreasen by suspending her now. They are even planing to hold a
hearing without reference to the important claims she has made. "Attempts to belittle and intimidate Marta Andreasen
however, will not stop her or the European Parliament from looking into
the issues surrounding Neil Kinnock's failed reforms. Kinnock
was appointed vice-president of the Commission to reform and clean up the
Brussels bureaucracy, not to silence competent professionals with
integrity who exercise their judgement in the best interest of European
citizens, at considerable cost and embarrassment to themselves. "I will continue to pursue these issues in the
Parliament whatever Commissioner Kinnock attempts to do to pervert the
course of our investigations." |