Flying the Euro flag

Dec 5 2008 by David Holmes, Chester Chronicle

Members of the Press, including The Chronicle, were invited to a briefing with North West Euro MPs in Manchester ahead of next June’s European elections but overshadowing the day was the absence of Conservative MEP Den Dover who was recently ordered to repay £500,000 for abusing his expenses. DAVID HOLMES reports.

Tory Euro MP Den Dover, a former Conservative chief whip in the European Parliament, faces a criminal investigation over payments to a family company.

He was due to meet the media at an event aimed at encouraging the British electorate to turn out for elections to the European Parliament taking place on June 4, 2009, in the UK.

But UK press officer Simon Duffin explained that Mr Dover had cancelled and would not be making an appearance.

The MEP for North West England recently had the Conservative whip withdrawn after David Cameron learnt the results of the inquiry conducted by the European Parliament.

It found that Mr Dover had a conflict of interest in using M P Holdings as a “service provider” for secretarial and parliamentary assistant work.

He had declared “no financial interest” in the family-owned company that employs his wife, Kathleen, as secretary and daughter, Amanda, as part-time parliamentary assistant. His wife and daughter are also company directors.

The last time MEPs invited the Press to meet them, ahead of the 2004 elections, there was a huge discussion about MEPs’ salaries and expenses with one former Euro MP exclaiming: “I’m fed-up of people accusing me of being a crook.”

Mr Dover’s actions have done nothing to counter the public’s cynicism towards the European Union. In the past Lib Dem MEP Chris Davies, who claims to be both Europe’s biggest supporter and its biggest critic, explained that he was able to use the surplus from his travel budget to support his political work and for charitable donations.

So much so that he was able to make a staggering £12,000 donation towards the Lib Dems’ campaign fund to fight the 2004 Euro election.

Press officer Mr Duffin said that in future travel would be reimbursed according to the actual amount spent.

He said pay for Euro MPs was being made the same for all MEPs across the European Union which would be set in Euros and defined as two-thirds of the salary of a European court judge. And a new employment system was being brought in for MEPs’ assistants.

North West MEP Gary Titley, outgoing leader of the Labour group in Europe, accepts there is “some abuse going on” but believes the public’s perception of Europe is skewed by a hostile media.

Mr Titley recalled a row which got into the Press over European legislation governing the minimum meat content which should be in a pie. The story was angled against an overbearing European Union and yet, if Europe had not been involved, he suspected everyone would have agreed the law was in the interests of consumers.

Mr Titley, 58, who is not standing in next June’s elections, said the European Union had brought greater political stability, along with cleaner drinking water, less polluted air, cleaner beaches and higher standards of food manufacture. New cars and mobile phone charges were cheaper because the single market had brought greater competition. Deprived areas and struggling industries had been supported in the form of grants.

Mr Titley, who hopes to spend more time with his family, would like to continue working in a political sphere but will not miss the weekly commute to Brussels or Strasbourg. “It’s been a fantastic 20 years,” he said.