Danish MEPs keep quiet about their use of EU-funds

Most of the Danish Members of the European Parliament refuse to reveal their records concerning how they make use of EU-funds. A request for access to all their invoices has been denied by the European Parliament. The matter has been brought to light by two Danish journalists, Peter Jeppesen, Ekstra Bladet, and Nils Mulvad, Investigative Reporting Denmark, as part of an EU-wide collaboration, in looking at the refusals from the Parliament to the EU Court of Justice. On top of their monthly salaries, MEPs receive about 32,000 DKK monthly in so-called pencil money. This is equivalent to 4,300 Euro.

Historic initiative by journalists taking the EU-Parliament to Court

Journalists from all over Europe have asked the EU-court to rule on the hidden records of parliamentarians’ allowances. The 29 journalists representing all EU member countries have come together in a simultaneous complaint over the Parliament to the European Court of Justice in Luxembourg. The group called The MEPs Project (MEP – Member of European Parliament) consists of individuals who have all tried to get access to documentation of how the elected politicians from their respective country use their allowances. That is money given for different reasons on top of the salaries. All in all the accounts for 751 parliamentarian’s allowances have been asked for.