International

On the initiative of SP Euro-MP Dennis de Jong and other members of the European Parliament’s Budgetary Control Committee, former member of the European Court of Auditors Maarten Engwirda was yesterday invited to a meeting of the committee to be held behind closed doors. Statements by Engwirda, published earlier this month by Dutch national daily De Volkskrant, to the effect that during his term of office many matters had been swept under the carpet, with numerous members paying too much attention to their country’s national interests, caused a storm of reaction. ‘It’s good that Engwirda will be able to inform the European Parliament without having to watch his words,’ De Jong explains. ‘His allegations must be thoroughly investigated’.

The Budgetary Control Committee hopes that Engwirda will accept the invitation and sit down with them within a few weeks. Members of the Committee have also invited the current president of the European Court of Auditors to attend a meeting following Engwirda’s presentation, in order to respond to the allegations.

Earlier this week a German former Member of the Court also came out with revelations concerning other Members of the Court who in the 1990s may have covered up major scandals for motives connected to national political considerations. “Now more and more of these kinds of stories are coming out, it’s time we looked further into this, leaving no stone unturned, and a meeting with Maarten Engwirda will be a logical first step.”