'european institutions' - tagged features

There’s been a scandal brewing in Brussels over the past week. Chris Davies, a member of the European Parliament, read an internal report that suggests some of his parliamentary colleagues are being less than honest with the money they claim to run their offices. He says he was so appalled by what he found out he’s gone public with it. Now allegations of fraud are flying and a fiercely bad-tempered row has erupted between those who want the report published and those who think it’s less than explosive. MEPs are given around two hundred thousand euros a year to keep an office and pay for assistants. And most of them say they have nothing to hide. So why don’t they want the report to be made public? 

Behind the scenes in Brussels questions are being asked about French coercion and threats to switch off Libya’s anti-missile shield. And there’s been fevered speculation as to exactly how the deal to free the Bulgarian medics was made, and who knew about it. Before the champagne corks in Sofia had even started popping difficult questions were being asked about the contents of the deal with Colonel Gaddaffi’s government. 

Brussels infamous bureaucracy is under the spotlight again. Critics have long accused MEPs of having big expense accounts and travel budgets they don’t need. But now there are fresh calls for the travelling circus of the European Parliament, which moves from Brussels to Strasbourg every month, to be stopped. But people have tried and failed to get rid of the Strasbourg connection before. 

Last week's heads of Government Summit in Brussels to hammer out the content of a new European Treaty was characterised as always by some very tough bargaining - But a tacit understanding on what can be used as a bargaining ploy in European negotiations was challenged when Poland's Prime Minister Jaroslaw Kaczynski cited his country's war dead at the hands of Nazi Germany as a reason why he the opposed German chancellor, Angela Merkel’s proposed new system of majority voting within the Union. In the end the compromise solution was found - but since the summit, commentators around have been trying to get their heads around what the comment's mean for Poland and the EU. 

In business, one seemingly effective way to promote your company's interests is to hire a professional to do your bidding for you. These highly paid campaigners are known as lobbyists and they attempt to curry favour and influence the decision-making process in Europe. But, critics of the profession say it's undemocrtaic and lacks transparancy. Which is why the European Commission is now trying to regulate the industry. Deutsche Weelle's Johannes Bahrke takes us up the corridors of power.