EU parliament being brought towards transparency, says LibDem MEP

Welcoming the European Court of Justice ruling that a report on MEPs' expenses must be published by the European Parliament, Chris Davies commented: "Bit by bit the parliament is being brought kicking and screaming towards transparency." According to The Independent, it was Chris Davies who first leaked the contents of the report compiled by the parliament's chief internal auditor, Robert Galvin, in 2008. He went on:"I was delighted by the European Court's decision. There is still a long way to go but I would hope pressure will now build to identify what was done to pursue those MEPs identified by Galvin as misusing the system."

A sample of the abuses listed:

* A series of bonuses awarded MEPs' assistants between three and 19.5 times their normal salary.

* A payment was made to a crèche, supposedly for secretarial work, whose manager was a local politician from the MEP's party.

* Payments were made to national political parties.