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Matthew Vella
Simon Busuttil and David Casa MEPs (EPP-ED) have written to MaltaToday saying that they “see no further point in responding to (the newspaper’s) communications” following reports on the earnings of Maltese MEPs in the European Parliament. Their decision which amounts effectively to a boycott is not unprecedented. For over three years from 1999 until 2003 Labour opposition leader Alfred Sant also boycotted MaltaToday.
Writing to this newspaper (see letters page 21) the two MEPs accused this newspaper of smearing their reputation with unfounded allegations, and of conducting a mud-slinging campaign.
They also threatened to take all necessary legal action to “defend (their) integrity.”
MEPs are estimated to earn a total of Lm40,000 in allowances and salaries from the EP’s generous system of perks and privileges, according to the parliament’s documentation on the allowances receivable by its deputies.
Busuttil and Casa however said that MaltaToday’s calculations of their earnings is false because “it is based on the wrong assumption that (they) turn allowances into earnings by pocketing them instead of using them for their real purpose.”
MEPs receive over Lm100,000 a year from the European Parliament to cover their expenses for the employment of their staff (Lm64,000), office expenses (Lm20,000) and other expenses covering language lessons, a taxi allowance of EUR50 a week, and conference organisation (Lm15,000).
Apart from having all their air fares reimbursed, MEPs receive an additional EUR1,000 in the form of a distance allowance, over and above their travel expenses.
The figure was confirmed by the European Parliament’s media director José Liberato, who said Maltese MEPs are reimbursed the flat rate of EUR1,542, leaving at least EUR1,000 (Lm434) extra after the reimbursement of the plane ticket.
In total, Maltese MEPs are estimated to earn a total of Lm40,000 in allowances when adding up their distance allowances, their attendance allowances of EUR268 for each committee meeting they attend, and their basic salary of Lm6,700.
The two MEPs are however contending that the “EP documentation never states that (they) earn 40K, simply because we do not.”
Last week, in a plenary vote over whether MEPs should be reimbursed for their actual travel expenses, Simon Busuttil abstained from voting, whilst David Casa and socialist MEPs Joseph Muscat and Louis Grech voted against having their distance allowance removed.
Only John Attard-Montalto (PES) voted to have actual travel costs reimbursed.
MaltaToday also reported correctly that the EP’s system of perks and privileges currently does not have proper checks against MEPs who sign the attendance registers and claim their attendance allowances without attending meetings.
Today, the EP is considering a media ban in the parts of the European Parliament where MEPs can be seen signing in the attendance registers.
Despite stating they were advocates of reform for the system of EP allowances, both Busuttil and Casa abstained last week from voting to have MEPs accused of embezzlement sanctioned by the European Parliament.
The two MEPs however claim that MaltaToday insinuated that they signed up for allowances without attending to their duties, a statement which appeared nowhere in this newspaper’s reports.
“The long and short of this story is that your newspaper is evidently not interested in reporting our side of the story faithfully… We have no difficulty with being put under public scrutiny since we have nothing to hide of to be ashamed of. On the contrary, we feel that we are doing our utmost to represent Malta effectively and with dignity at a European level,” the two MEPs said in a letter to MaltaToday.
They also claimed, with a fair slice of self-righteousness, that they were defending this newspaper’s “right to disagree with (them) politically”.
The parliamentary record of Busuttil and Casa with respect to their advocacy for reform in the EP’s system of allowances is so far uncertain. Despite claiming that they favour reform, last week’s votes on a report on the parliament’s budget revealed conflicting voting patterns on their commitment.
Both MEPs abstained from taking a stand on whether MEPs should be named and shamed if found guilty of embezzlement, and on whether audits should be carried out to ensure that MEPs pay back their pension premiums from their personal incomes into their office expense accounts.
matthew@newsworksltd.com
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