Visitors cash in

The auditors also raise a collective eyebrow at the European Economic and Social Committee, which is a bastion of outdated practice on the payment of travel expenses for its members. They get to choose between reimbursement of actual costs based on receipts, or a flat-rate allowance.

The auditors observe: “Although legal and regular, this procedure does not correspond to the practice of the other European institutions and bodies”, which have moved towards repaying actual costs. The EESC responds that the relevant rules will be reformed. A proposal is to go to the EESC's bureau next month, with the changes to take full effect from 2015.

Faithful readers may recall that Giacomo Regaldo, a former member of the EESC, fiddled his expenses by claiming reimbursement both from the EESC and from the Italian employers' organisation that he represented. The case was passed to the Belgian public prosecutor in 2005, but it was not until 2008 that he was fined and given a suspended prison sentence. He appealed, and after a few postponements, a hearing was at last held in a Brussels court at the beginning of November and a ruling is scheduled for the second week of December. But up to now, Regaldo still has not paid his fine or paid back any fraudulently claimed expenses.