By Raymond Frenken
BRUSSELS – The European Commission on Thursday had declined to answer questions from the European Ombudsman Nikiforos Diamandouros on allegations of fraud in the commission’s political studies program. The allegations target a program known as EIDHR, which stands for “European instrument for Democracy and Human Rights”.
“I am not in a position to force the Commission to answer by a certain date,” the ombudsman today in a letter to Professor David Lempert, a copy of which was made available to EUX.TV.
Lempert took the case to the ombudsman two years ago after he uncovered the fraud while reviewing spending for the political studies program as a conctracted specialist. The irregularities were not made part of the official report on the EIDHR program.
Letter Ombudsman to David Lempert
Lempert, who has been pushing fruitlessly to get the Commission to investigate the fraud, had asked the ombudsman to look into this case two years ago. The Ombudsman so far has been unable to extract an answer from the Commission and therefore has proven totally unable to investigate the case.
Lempert is not the first one to accuse the Ombudsman of being part of a conspiracy with the Commission. It’s the role of the ombudsman to investigate complaints about maladministration in the EU institutions. Dutch MEP Paul van Buitenen is among those whose calls for probes into irregularities with EU funds have not been investigated after a complaint to the Ombudsman.
“I cannot accept these accusations,” said the Ombudman in his letter to David Lempert. “Your complaint is handled in an objective and impartial way.”
According to a evaluation report on the EIDHR project, 2.1 million euro in EU funds has been given to this project since 2002, mostly to political studies institutes in countries like Bosnia, Georgia, Kosovo, Moldova, Russia and Macedonia.
Lempert is cited in the evaluation report as a contributor but says that the irregularities he uncovered are not included in the report, and that the commission is attempting to keep this fraud under the hat.
“The Ombudsman claims that his inaction for almost two years is exactly what he is supposed to do,” Lempert writes in an email. “He says he is doing a perfect job, which means that his inaction and the game playing with the EC is part of his job.”
So why is this story important? Not because of the amount involved in the EIDHR program, which is relatively insignificant.
It’s important because it highlights a ‘modus operandi’ at the EU institutions in Brussels in which irregularities are not properly investigated, even when the facts are on the table. This situation needs to be addressed sooner rather than later. The current system discourages whistle-blowers from raising the alarm. That’s just what the EC staffers in the Berlaymont want. So, let’s support David Lempert, and not ignore this case. We’ll be among those who keep you posted.
