Europe takes step towards making Russia pay for Ukraine war

Yahoo – AFP, Marc BURLEIGH, May 16, 2023 

Leaders from the 46-nation Council of Europe including French President
Emmanuel Macron and German Chancellor Olaf Scholz emphasised that Moscow
would be held accountable

A summit of a rights body spanning Europe on Tuesday created a "register of damages" to record Russia's destruction of Ukraine for future compensation, and heard Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky plead for Western fighter jets. 

Leaders from the 46-nation Council of Europe including French President Emmanuel Macron and German Chancellor Olaf Scholz emphasised that Moscow would be held accountable for the harm and destruction it has caused in its 15-month invasion of its neighbour. 

The register of damages, to be lodged in The Hague, aims to record the tangible costs Russia has exacted on Ukraine in that time. 

"There will be no reliable peace without justice" and the register lays the ground for "a full-fledged compensation mechanism," Zelensky said in a video address at the start of the two-day summit. 

Right now, though, Zelensky said, ballistic missile and drone attacks on his country showed "Russia is trying very hard to improve its ability to kill". 

Ukraine consequently needed "additional air defence systems and missiles -- we also need more fighter jets, without which no air defence system will be perfect," he said. 

The call came just after a whirlwind tour by Zelensky of major European capitals to press for Western warplanes ahead of an expected offensive against Russian positions in Ukraine in coming weeks. 

He received pledges of more military deliveries from Germany, France and Britain. The latter two said they would train Ukrainian fighter pilots. 

Jet 'coalition'  

Western countries however are wary about supplying advanced fighter aircraft to Ukraine, fearing their use could escalate the war. 

British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak and Dutch counterpart Mark Rutte agreed at the summit that they would build an "international coalition to provide Ukraine with combat air capabilities, supporting with everything from training to procuring F-16 jets," according to Sunak's office. 

Other leaders in Iceland emphasised the registry of damages -- and how justified they were in kicking Russia out of the Council of Europe a year ago over its war in Ukraine. 

Scholz said the registry would play "a central role" in "punishing and demanding accountability for the war crimes committed by the Russian occupiers". 

Macron called on other countries to join the initiative and "actively contribute to filling it out". 

The United States -- represented at the summit in an observer role -- said it too supported the creation of the register. 

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said the register would play a role in deterring further Russian "war crimes" and called it important for the future "because only justice can be the foundation of lasting peace in Ukraine". 

Britain seeks reform 

All of the EU's 27 countries are part of the Council of Europe, and several of them are in favour of setting up a special tribunal to try Russia's leadership. 

That would be deferred until the conclusion of the grinding war. 

Russia could well be preparing its own spring attack on Ukrainian positions to try to break a battlefield stalemate. 

For all the unity projected at the summit, there were fissures in the European community. 

Britain is antagonistic towards the council's European Convention of Human Rights, which is a barrier to its plans to stem the irregular arrival of asylum-seekers by deporting them to Rwanda. 

The convention is backed by a European Court of Human Rights which has made rulings stymying Britain's policies. 

Sunak said as he arrived that he was pressing for a reform of that court as part of a strategy to stop small boats carrying refugees reaching Britain after transiting through France. 

"We're going to do absolutely everything we can to do that... I'm not going to rest until we can stop the boats and that's why I'm here," Sunak said. 

The leaders' gathering was also a key moment for the heads of European heavyweights Germany, France, Italy and Britain to meet before a G7 summit starting Friday in Japan.

Turkey bows to US pressure, cuts Russian bank ties

Yahoo – AFP, Fulya OZERKAN, September 28, 2022

 

Turkey's booming wartime trade with Moscow took a giant step back on Wednesday with confirmation that the last three banks still processing Russian card payments were pulling out under pressure from Washington. 

The decision follows weeks of increasingly blunt warnings from the United States for NATO member Turkey to either limit its economic relations with Russia or face the threat of sanctions itself. 

The US Treasury said last week that Turkish banks working with Russian Mir bank cards "risk supporting Russia's efforts to evade US sanctions". 

Two private Turkish lenders that began processing Mir after Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan met Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin in August suspended the transactions earlier this month. 

But three state lenders -- Halkbank, Vakifbank and Ziraatbank -- still worked with the cards. 

A senior Turkish official did not say when Russians would no longer be able to access their cards in Turkey at all. 

The three banks "are still processing (the outstanding) payments, but they have set a future date" for pulling out, the official said on condition of anonymity because no formal decision by the three bank has been announced. 

The decision follows a meeting headed by Erdogan last Friday that officially focused on looking at "alternatives" to the Russian cards. 

Shift in tone

The explosion of Turkish trade with Russia during the seven-month war in Ukraine has been a source of growing irritation for Washington. 

The value of trade between the two rose by more than 50 percent. Turkey has also agreed to pay for a quarter of its Russian natural gas imports in rubles. 

US Deputy Secretary of the Treasury Wally Adeyemo paid a rare visit to Ankara and Istanbul in June to express Washington's worries that Russian oligarchs and big businesses were using Turkish entities to evade Western sanctions. 

The Treasury sent a follow up letter to Turkish banks and businesses in August warning that they cannot expect to have "access to the US dollar and other major currencies" if they trade with sanctioned Russians. 

Turkey has tried to stay neutral in the Ukrainian conflict and refused to sign up to Western sanctions against Russia.  

It has used this status to strike a range of economic agreements that have helped prop up the ailing economy in the run-up to June elections in which Erdogan will struggle to extend his two-decade grip on power. 

Mir cards offer millions of Russians that vacation in Turkey each year a way to access their rubles and pay for everything from restaurants to hotels. 

They are also increasingly important to Russians who are fleeing to Turkey as part of a new migration wave of men trying to avoid the draft. 

But analysts note a shift in Turkey's tone away from Russia in the past few weeks. 

Ankara last week strongly condemned the "illegitimate" polls the Kremlin is using as a pretext to annex four Ukrainian regions now under partial Russian control. 

'Fear of secondary sanctions'

Prominent Russian sanctions campaigner Bill Browder -- a businessman who left Moscow after one of his associates died in jail -- said the Turkish bank decision showed that the "fear of secondary sanctions is starting to work". 

"Turkish banks have abandoned Putin's Mir payment system out of fear of being punished by the US," Browder tweeted. 

"We need to roll this out far and wide. Chinese, Indian UAE and many other countries should understand there will be consequences." 

Russia developed Mir in 2015 to circumvent Western sanctions imposed following its annexation of Ukraine's Crimea peninsula. 

But Russian central bank chief Elvira Nabiullina conceded earlier this month that Moscow was encountering "difficulties" expanding its payment system around the world. 

Uzbekistan suspended Mir transactions last Friday citing unspecified "technical procedures". 

The card still works in Belarus and a handful of Russia's closest allies. 

Visa and Mastercard no longer issue new cards in Russia or process foreign payments on the cards acquired before the war.

Pope rejects German bishop's offer to quit over abuse

Yahoo – AFP, Alvise ARMELLINI with Hui Min NEO in Berlin, June 10, 2021

Marx condemned the way the Catholic Church had handled child sex abuse scandals

Pope Francis on Thursday rejected an offer by top German bishop Reinhard Marx to resign over the huge child sex abuse scandal rocking the Church, urging the cardinal known for his reforms to stay and help shape change in the institution. 

"Continue as you propose (in your pastoral work) but as Archbishop of Munich and Freising," the pope wrote to Marx, a cardinal and member of his inner circle, referring to the position he was offering to vacate. 

Marx voiced surprise at the swift reply from the pope and said he accepted the "great challenge" put to him. 

"This means that for me and our common work at the Archdiocese of Munich and Freising, we'll have to consider which new paths we can take, also in view of the history of the multitudes of failure," Marx said in a statement. 

He added that he will in the next weeks "reflect on how we can contribute even more to the renewal of the Church". 

Marx, who himself was never accused of abuse or of a cover-up, announced earlier this month that he had offered the pope his resignation over the church's "institutional and systemic failure" in handling child sex abuse scandals. 

The stunning decision came after the church in Germany, like in many places elsewhere, was shaken by allegations of wide-ranging abuse by clergymen against minors. 

In his letter, the pope agreed with Marx in condemning the "catastrophe" of clerical sexual abuse scandals and the way the Catholic Church dealt with them "until recently". 

"The entire Church is in crisis because of the abuse issue" and "the Church cannot proceed without tackling this crisis", the pope wrote, adding: "The ostrich policy (of burying one's head in the sand) leads nowhere." 

The pope said the Catholic Church could not "live with the weight of having 'skeletons in the closet', as the saying goes," and said it needed to confess to its sins and "ask for the grace of shame". 

Francis thanked the archbishop for his "Christian courage which does not fear the cross, which does not fear to be overwhelmed by the tremendous reality of sin". 

Pope Francis said the Church was in crisis because of the "abuse issue"

Roland Juchem, a specialist who writes for Catholic German press agency KNA, said that with his letter "the pope hopes... to send a message to the whole Church on how to deal with sexual abuse, taking the example of Cardinal Marx." 

'Shared responsibility' 

Known as a prominent advocate for change, Marx has clashed with both the Vatican and more conservative German clerics, but has also been closely involved in Francis' reforming efforts. 

He is part of a seven-strong Council of Cardinals advising the pope on a general overhaul of the Vatican's administration, and leads the Council of the Economy, which oversees money matters. 

Marx headed the German Bishops' Conference from 2012 to 2020 -- a period when it commissioned a study which revealed widespread sexual abuse by German clergy. 

It found that 1,670 clergymen had committed some type of sexual attack against 3,677 minors, mostly boys, between 1946 and 2014, while saying this was almost certainly an underestimate. 

Another report published in March exposed the scope of abuse by priests in Germany's top diocese in Cologne. 

Cologne bishop Rainer Maria Woelki, an arch-conservative, faced months of public criticism after he refused last year to allow the publication of an initial study. 

He later commissioned the second report, which revealed that 314 minors, mostly boys under the age of 14, were sexually abused between 1975 and 2018 in the western city. 

Last month, the pope sent two envoys to Cologne to investigate "possible mistakes" made by Cardinal Woelki. 

In his resignation letter, dated May 21 and published on June 4, Marx said: "It is important to me to share the responsibility for the catastrophe of the sexual abuse by Church officials over the past decades." 

Slamming colleagues who "refuse to believe there is a shared responsibility in this respect", the 67-year-old said the Catholic Church was at "a dead end". 

Marx added that he hoped his resignation would offer a new beginning for the Church.

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Google to stop using ‘double Irish, Dutch sandwich’ tax dodge: Reuters

DutchNews, January 2, 2020

Photo: Depositphotos.com

Google parent Alphabet is to stop using an intellectual property licensing loophole, known as the ‘Double Irish, Dutch sandwich’, which allowed it to cut its global tax bill, Reuters reports. 

The strategy involves companies moving money from an Irish subsidiary to a Dutch holding company and then back to an Irish holding company located in Bermuda with licensing rights to Google intellectual property. 

Because Bermuda has no corporate income tax it was lucrative for Google to report income there, effectively delaying tax payment on international earnings to the US for years while paying a lower tax rate in Europe. 

After pressure from the EU and the US Ireland closed the loopholes in 2014 and companies were given until 2020 to comply with new tax regulations. 

Dutch filings at the Chamber of Commerce and seen by Reuters showed that in 2018 Google moved €21.8bn through its Dutch holding company to Bermuda, up from €19.9bn in 2017. 

Reuters said the filing did not give a definite end date but that Google management expected the termination to take place ‘as of 31 December 2019 or during 2020′. 

The scheme was in place for over a decade and allowed the tech giant to cut its tax bill by hundreds of billions of euros, the Guardian estimates. 

The Netherlands does not currently tax royalties, but is planning to change this as part of a package of measures to crack down on tax evasion in 2021. 

Some 10,000 shell, or letter-box, companies are based in the Netherlands and are primarily used to shift corporate earnings and obscure ownership. Google has used its Dutch affiliate to move money since 2004.

Shell, other oil giants, spent €250m lobbying Brussels in 10 years

DutchNews, October 24, 2019

Anglo-Dutch oil giant Shell is among five big energy companies which have spent a combined €250m on lobbying the European Union in an effort to influence policy, according to Brussels-based research group Corporate Europe Observatory. 

‘Since 2010, just five oil and gas corporations and their fossil fuel lobby groups have spent at least a quarter of a billion euros buying influence at the heart of European decision-making,’ the organisation said on Thursday. 

‘We need a firewall that protects our democratic institutions and our political decision-making from fossil fuel industry interference,’ the organisation said. ‘No more private lobby meetings, partnerships, or collaboration.’ 

Shell, BP, Chevron, Total and ExxonMobile lobbyists have held 327 meetings with EU officials over the 10 year period, including 13 with Frans Timmermans or members of his ‘Better Regulation’ task force. This, the researchers say, is more than one meeting a week. 

In total, the oil giants have some 200 lobbyists working on their behalf in Brussels.

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"Recalibration of Free Choice"– Mar 3, 2012 (Kryon Channelling by Lee Caroll) - (Subjects: (Old) Souls, Midpoint on 21-12-2012, Shift of Human Consciousness, Black & White vs. Color, 1 - Spirituality (Religions) shifting, Loose a Pope “soon”, 2 - Humans will change react to drama, 3 - Civilizations/Population on Earth, 4 - Alternate energy sources (Geothermal, Tidal (Paddle wheels), Wind), 5 – Financials Institutes/concepts will change (Integrity – Ethical) , 6 - News/Media/TV to change, 7 – Big Pharmaceutical company will collapse “soon”, (Keep people sick), (Integrity – Ethical) 8 – Wars will be over on Earth, Global Unity, … etc.) - (Text version)

“… 4 - Energy (again)

The natural resources of the planet are finite and will not support the continuation of what you've been doing. We've been saying this for a decade. Watch for increased science and increased funding for alternate ways of creating electricity (finally). Watch for the very companies who have the most to lose being the ones who fund it. It is the beginning of a full realization that a change of thinking is at hand. You can take things from Gaia that are energy, instead of physical resources. We speak yet; again about geothermal, about tidal, about wind. Again, we plead with you not to over-engineer this. For one of the things that Human Beings do in a technological age is to over-engineer simple things. Look at nuclear - the most over-engineered and expensive steam engine in existence!

Your current ideas of capturing energy from tidal and wave motion don't have to be technical marvels. Think paddle wheel on a pier with waves, which will create energy in both directions [waves coming and going] tied to a generator that can power dozens of neighborhoods, not full cities. Think simple and decentralize the idea of utilities. The same goes for wind and geothermal. Think of utilities for groups of homes in a cluster. You won't have a grid failure if there is no grid. This is the way of the future, and you'll be more inclined to have it sooner than later if you do this, and it won't cost as much…

Water

We've told you that one of the greatest natural resources of the planet, which is going to shift and change and be mysterious to you, is fresh water. It's going to be the next gold, dear ones. So, we have also given you some hints and examples and again we plead: Even before the potentials of running out of it, learn how to desalinate water in real time without heat. It's there, it's doable, and some already have it in the lab. This will create inexpensive fresh water for the planet. 

There is a change of attitude that is starting to occur. Slowly you're starting to see it and the only thing getting in the way of it are those companies with the big money who currently have the old system. That's starting to change as well. For the big money always wants to invest in what it knows is coming next, but it wants to create what is coming next within the framework of what it has "on the shelf." What is on the shelf is oil, coal, dams, and non-renewable resource usage. It hasn't changed much in the last 100 years, has it? Now you will see a change of free choice. You're going to see decisions made in the boardrooms that would have curled the toes of those two generations ago. Now "the worst thing they could do" might become "the best thing they could do." That, dear ones, is a change of free choice concept. When the thinkers of tomorrow see options that were never options before, that is a shift. That was number four.”

“Afraid of Love” + “What’s Wrong Today”, Laguna Hills, California, US(2), Dec 9, 2018 (Kryon Channelling by Lee Carroll)

• Stagnation of the current US Politics: Compassioned (US) leaders will arise in the future
• Shortage of fresh/drinking water: Invention to make salt from salt water magnetic and remove it with water desalination process in high volumes
• Pollution on Earth: 1 - Stop killing the environment! / 2 - The rise of temperature on Earth is “temporary” and is part of the "regular" Watercycle.
• Replacement of current fossil energy source: Use of magnetics based (small/big) engines to produces electricity / free energy
• Plastic pollution in the oceans: Invention to remove the plastics gradually from the oceans

Britain's Lloyds bank freezes 8,000 offshore accounts

Yahoo – AFP, June 24, 2019

Lloyds froze accounts after failing to get detailed information about their
owners (AFP Photo/DANIEL LEAL-OLIVAS)

London (AFP) - Britain's Lloyds Banking Group has frozen 8,000 customer accounts under a wider crackdown on money-laundering, the lender announced Monday.

LBG took action late last year after a change to money-laundering rules in Jersey, home to the lender's international division, the Financial Times had reported.

Lloyds froze the accounts after failing to obtain details regarding customer identities despite multiple requests, a company spokesman told AFP.

"In January 2016, we began to contact certain expatriate banking customers to ensure we were provided with up-to-date information for our records, where customer information was missing," the spokesman said.

"This was required to meet international regulatory standards... Unfortunately, where a customer has not provided us with this necessary information we have had to freeze their account until we get the information."

The news comes amid international moves towards greater tax transparency, including in UK crown dependencies Jersey, Guernsey and the Isle of Man.

The three last week announced plan to publish secret information on company ownership in the offshore territories by 2023.

The Netherlands is a tax haven alongside Ireland, Malta and Cyprus, say MEPs

DutchNews, March 27, 2019

Photo: Joep Poulssen

Members of the European parliament have voted to include the Netherlands, Ireland, Luxembourg, Malta and Cyprus on the official EU tax haven black list. 

However the motion, proposed by Dutch Labour MEP Paul Tang, will not have any affect on the listing because members states have to unanimously approve every inclusion, the Financieele Dagblad said on Wednesday. 

The official EU blacklist of places considered to facilitate tax evasion now comprises 15 countries, after 10, including Aruba, were added earlier this month. However, Tang said this did not go far enough, and referred to research last year by the European Commission which said the Netherlands cooperated with ‘aggressive tax planning’. 

Tang’s motion was passed by 408 to 205. 

Dutch junior finance minister Menno Snel said in a reaction that he was astonished by the vote. ‘The Netherlands has a leading position in the battle against international tax evasion,’ he told the FD.

ING ordered to clean up its Italian operation, client freeze imposed

DutchNews, March 18, 2019

Photo: Wikimedia Commons

Dutch banking group ING has been told not to acquire any new clients in Italy by the Italian central bank because of flaws in money laundering checks. 

The Bank of Italy gave the order after a four-month on-site inspection, it said in a statement at the weekend. 

ING itself says it will work hard in the coming weeks to tackle the shortcomings and solve the problems which Italian central bank inspectors identified. 

‘The measures in Italy come in the context of the steps ING announced in September 2018 to enhance its management of compliance risks and embed stronger awareness across the whole organisation,’ the bank said. 

Last year ING agreed a €775m out of court settlement with the Dutch authorities because of its lax approach to money laundering checks. 

The Italian arm of ING has more than 900 members of staff and made a loss of €101m in 2018, the Financieele Dagblad said.

Photo: ING.com

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"The Recalibration of Awareness – Apr 20/21, 2012 (Kryon channeled by Lee Carroll) (Subjects: Old Energy, Recalibration Lectures, God / Creator, Religions/Spiritual systems (Catholic Church, Priests/Nun’s, Worship, John Paul Pope, Women in the Church otherwise church will go, Current Pope won’t do it), Middle East, Jews, Governments will change (Internet, Media, Democracies, Dictators, North Korea, Nations voted at once),Integrity (Businesses, Tobacco Companies, Bankers/ Financial Institutes, Pharmaceutical company to collapse), Illuminati (Started in Greece, with Shipping, Financial markets, Stock markets, Pharmaceutical money (fund to build Africa, to develop)), Shift of Human Consciousness, (Old) Souls, Women, Masters to/already come back, Global Unity.... etc.) - (Text version)

“… The Shift in Human Nature

You're starting to see integrity change. Awareness recalibrates integrity, and the Human Being who would sit there and take advantage of another Human Being in an old energy would never do it in a new energy. The reason? It will become intuitive, so this is a shift in Human Nature as well, for in the past you have assumed that people take advantage of people first and integrity comes later. That's just ordinary Human nature.

In the past, Human nature expressed within governments worked like this: If you were stronger than the other one, you simply conquered them. If you were strong, it was an invitation to conquer. If you were weak, it was an invitation to be conquered. No one even thought about it. It was the way of things. The bigger you could have your armies, the better they would do when you sent them out to conquer. That's not how you think today. Did you notice?

Any country that thinks this way today will not survive, for humanity has discovered that the world goes far better by putting things together instead of tearing them apart. The new energy puts the weak and strong together in ways that make sense and that have integrity. Take a look at what happened to some of the businesses in this great land (USA). Up to 30 years ago, when you started realizing some of them didn't have integrity, you eliminated them. What happened to the tobacco companies when you realized they were knowingly addicting your children? Today, they still sell their products to less-aware countries, but that will also change.

What did you do a few years ago when you realized that your bankers were actually selling you homes that they knew you couldn't pay for later? They were walking away, smiling greedily, not thinking about the heartbreak that was to follow when a life's dream would be lost. Dear American, you are in a recession. However, this is like when you prune a tree and cut back the branches. When the tree grows back, you've got control and the branches will grow bigger and stronger than they were before, without the greed factor. Then, if you don't like the way it grows back, you'll prune it again! I tell you this because awareness is now in control of big money. It's right before your eyes, what you're doing. But fear often rules. …”

'Nearly a third' of British billionaires moved to tax havens

Yahoo – AFP, Dmitry ZAKS, March 7, 2019

It is reported that 10 British billionaires and 408 UK business owners live in
Monaco, according to The Sunday Times (AFP Photo/VALERY HACHE)

London (AFP) - Nearly a third of Britain's billionaires have either moved or are relocating to tax havens, where some have broken UK law by bankrolling political parties, a major investigation said on Thursday.

The Times newspaper published a series of reports detailing allegations of Britain's ultra-rich hiding billions of pounds from the UK Treasury in taxes over the past decade.

The report came out days after the government drew public fury for delaying a vote on proposed legislation aimed at ending secret company ownership in offshore territories.

"We must stop tax evasion so that the wealthiest pay their fair share," Margaret Hodge, a leading lawmaker from the main opposition Labour Party who co-sponsored the tax haven measure, tweeted in response to The Times reports.

"Public registers and more transparency are the next big step for fairer tax."

Prime Minister Theresa May's government did not immediately respond to the investigation.

Knights and dames

The Times said that 28 out of the 93 British billionaires it found through public records "have moved to tax havens or are in the process of relocating".

It said almost half of the 28 have left in the past decade.

The Times said those in the process of moving included Jim Ratcliffe, Britain's richest man and a major Brexit supporter. His chemicals firm is valued at £35 billion ($46 billion).

The Times said those in the process of moving included Jim Ratcliffe, Britain's
richest man and a major Brexit supporter (AFP Photo/JUSTIN TALLIS)

The Sunday Times reported last month that Ratcliffe's move to Monaco, where it said 10 British billionaires and 408 UK business owners live, could cost the Treasury up to £4 billion.

Asked about his rumoured move last October, Ratcliffe told Britain's Press Association news agency that he was staying in Britain.

The Times said big business owners were trying to avoid paying Britain's relatively high 38.1 percent income tax on dividends -- the cash payments made by corporations to their shareholders.

It is effectively a profit tax, since business owners hold a large portion of their company's shares.

Tax-evading

Companies registered in offshore tax shelters such as the Channel Islands or countries like Switzerland and the United Arab Emirates pay little to no tax.

The Times said the exodus was spurred by a hike in income tax rates for top earners to 50 percent in 2010, which was reduced to 45 percent in 2013.

New rules from 2013 making a switch in tax residency easier also contributed, The Times said.

But some of its most damning allegations concerned political contributions.

The Times said successive UK governments have failed to properly enact a 2009 law banning large donations from anyone residing abroad for tax purposes.

It said tax-evading business owners and their companies have made political contributions worth £5.5 million over the past decade.

Prime Minister Theresa May's Conservatives accepted £1 million from these entities in the months leading up to the 2017 snap general election, The Times said.

It added that several of these billionaires have also received honorary titles such as baron, knight and dame.

Dutch MEPs want to make EU expenses claims open

DutchNews, October 4, 2018

Two Dutch MEPs are proposing a motion in the European Parliament to make expenses claims open. 

Every month, MEPs may claim an extra €4,416 in expenses on top of their salary and attempts by journalists at the European Court of Justice to make these claims open failed last month. 

Now, reports broadcaster NOS, D66 politician Gerben-Jan Gerbrandy and SP representative Dennis de Jong have proposed a new vote on the issue and believe they will win a majority. 

While previous attempts to post MEP’s major expenses claims failed due to privacy rules and suggestions that the costs of posting all the receipts online would be prohibitive, Gerbrandy was hopeful. 

‘We have asked the bureau [which deals with day-to-day European administration] to come up with a ruling, because it really can’t be that difficult,’ he reportedly told the NOS. ‘It would be pretty brazen to ignore the wish of a parliamentary majority. This is public spending and so it should be publicly accounted for.’ 

He added that claims by the bureau that putting all receipts online would require seven people working full time were ‘exaggerated’ and that the motion would be about accounting for big claims rather than every cup of coffee. 

The NOS reports that a previous motion on this issue had been passed but has not been enacted. 

De Jong told DutchNews.nl, via email: ‘In the Parliament there is a majority in favour of more transparency. At the same time, the bureau does not do what it is asked to do.’ 

Short of dismissing the bureau’s members, including the president, he said the only other option is to ask all candidates for the European elections next May to pledge that they will open up their expenses claims to public scrutiny rather than just accepting the current cash lump sum. ‘That’s what we now ask as Dutch MEPs,’ he added. 

Stefan de Koning, spokesman for the D66 at the European Parliament (SP), added that the exact form of the motion is still taking shape. ‘The ECJ ruled against the request for transparancy from 29 journalists, but that should not be a signal for the EP to lean back and do nothing,’ he said in a statement to DutchNews.nl. ‘Rather, we should use the momentum for further steps towards more transparency. That is in essence what we want to do now; make sure we keep moving forward, rather than heave a collective sigh of relief.’

MEPs can keep their expenses secret, European Court of Justice rules

DutchNews, September 25, 2018

MEPs do not have to publish details of how they spend their monthly expenses allowance of €4,300 a month because it would be in breach of their privacy, the European Court of Justice said on Tuesday. 

Journalists from all 28 EU member countries, including Dutch public broadcaster NOS, had gone to court in an effort to have MEPs’ expenses made public. MEPs are given the money, which is supposed to fund a home office, every month in addition to their salary of €8,848. 

The European court upheld several earlier votes by the European parliament not to open expenses to public scrutiny, citing privacy rules. In addition, redacting bills and invoices to remove personal information would, the court said, be an ‘excessive administrative burden’ given the volume of documents. 

Dutch Socialist MEP Dennis de Jong said the court’s decision is ‘a slap in the face’ for all Europeans. ‘MEPs are representatives of the people and they should show what they spend the money on,’ he said. 

Lobby group Transparency International said it is ‘enormously disappointed’ in the court’s decision. 

In 2017,  journalists also made a public appeal for MEPs to volunteer information about their expenses to the public. In the Netherlands, the VVD, the fundamentalist Christian SGP and the anti-EU PVV refused to comply. 

In addition to their salary and standard expenses package, MEPs have their travel expenses between Brussels and Strasbourg paid, they get a car allowance of 50 cents a kilometre and an extra €306 for every day they attend official meetings – totalling some 168 meetings a year.