European deputies have demanded answers about a €149 allowance paid to members of an obscure EU policy body when they attend online meetings.
The 329 members of the European Economic and Social Committee (EESC) can claim the daily fee without being in Brussels, when they take part in meetings remotely via video conferencing.
The body’s members are drawn from trades unions, employers and various civil society groups, and do not receive a salary. Their role is to provide policy advice to EU institutions, including the Parliament.
On Wednesday MEPs voted in favour of a report by Pasquale Tridico, an Italian 5 Stars MEP, calling on the EESC to strengthen the “transparency and proportionality of the system on the remote participation allowance in order to reinforce public trust.”
“Financial compensation for remote attendance must be strictly justified,” the report states. The body paid out €259,669 in 2024 for remote attendance, and over €6 million for physical attendance. The per diems have raised eyebrows before, especially during the pandemic.
A daily allowance of €367 is paid out for attending in person.
“There are opaque and critical issues surrounding the management of the EESC’s budget, which have been partially overcome by the new management,” Tridico told Euractiv.
He added that paying members a lower allowance for remote meetings compared to in-person meetings has brought some benefits, including “significantly reduced transportation costs and reimbursements.”
EESC staff check whether members are really logged in “by reviewing login timestamps and participation logs,” the body told the European Parliament in writing.
“Allowances are designed to compensate the time spent preparing for meetings, the time spent attending the meeting, and the follow-up work after the meeting,” said a spokesperson for the EESC.
A spokesperson for the EESC said that the decision to reimburse members for online participation was made by the Council of the EU, because it brings budgetary and environmental benefits.
Anonymous allegations
The EESC has been rocked in recent weeks by anonymous allegations levelled at Isabel Le Galo Flores, its most senior civil servant.
At the European Parliament in Strasbourg this week Cristian Terheş, a Romanian MEP in the ECR group, brandished the anonymous letter that was circulated to staff at the EESC in early March.
“The European media is already talking about this for the past two days,” he said. He called unsuccessfully for MEPs to vote against the report “so we can look into these allegations.”
(bw)
Source:
www.euractiv.com