The EU's highest court ruled Tuesday that the European Parliament has the right to keep secret how individual MEPs spend their allowances, in a blow to advocates for more transparency.
The European Court of Justice was seized by several journalists and groups who had been refused access to documents relating to MEPs' daily allowances and expenses for travel and parliamentary assistants. In its judgement, the court said that European "institutions may refuse access to a document if its disclosure would undermine the protection of the privacy and integrity of the individual". It underlined that "the documents requested contain information concerning identified natural persons (i.e. MEPs)" and that the demand was not "appropriate and proportional".
Nick Aiossa, a policy officer at watchdog Transparency International EU said the court had "dealt a severe blow to transparency". "At a time when trust in the EU institutions is so low, this is a ridiculous message to send ahead of next year's European elections," he added.
MEPs are refunded first class travel costs to Brussels or Strasbourg, the host cities of their parliament. In addition, daily allowances are paid at a tax free rate of 313 ($369) euros per day of presence in Brussels or Strasbourg to cover accommodation or meal expenses. The overhead allowance is paid at a rate of 4,416 euros per month to cover the costs of activities carried out in the MEP's home constituency.
The cost of parliamentary assistants can reach 24,526 euros per month - not directly paid to the MEP - to recruit assistants and a secretariat. Each MEP receives a net salary of 6,611.42 euros (7,786 dollars) per month.
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