EU blows millions on fact-finding freebies for MEPs
By Jamie Lyons & Guy Basnett
HIGH-FLYING British MEPs are jet-setting to holiday paradises for jaunts of unimaginable luxury-leaving cash-strapped taxpayers to pick up the bill.
A News of the World investigation has uncovered the full extent of the multi-million-pound junkets to fabulous destinations like Bali, St Lucia, the Seychelles, Barbados and Australia.
The official trips are billed as fact-finding missions for politicians to learn more about the places they visit.
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But we went out on our own fact-finding mission and our incredible dossier suggests MEPs need no lessons in living like lords on the backs of hard-working people.
We discovered that:
The globe-trotting tours have cost EU taxpayers £3.1MILLION since 2004 alone;
One British MEP's trips cost us £40,000 and him NOTHING.
On one nine-day trip to Australia, just 18 HOURS was spent on official business, while MEPs had FIVE DAYS set aside for cruising on a yacht, watching opera, touring vineyards or visiting Uluru (Ayers Rock).
The full shocking scale of the abuse of taxpayers' cash-all perfectly legitimate under EU rules-was exposed in a major investigation by the News of the World last week when we told how greedy Euro MP Tom Wise boasted that he pocketed THOUSANDS in EU expenses.
Now we can reveal that freeloading MEPs have flown the equivalent of to the moon and back TWENTY times since 2004 on jollies paid for by YOU. Nine MEPs boarded the gravy plane for the Australia trip last year-four of them Brits.
Led by Tory Giles Chichester, and including fellow-Tory Neil Parish, Labour's David Martin and Ulster Unionist James Nicholson, the European Parliament's Delegation for Relations with Australia and New Zealand sends a groups of its members Down Under every TWO YEARS.
On the first day of the jaunt, February 24, the group set off to Sydney Opera House to see La Traviata.
Next day a sunset cruise of Sydney Harbour aboard the luxury catamaran MV Olympic Spirit was laid on.
On February 28 the delegation journeyed to the tourists' must-see destination Ayers Rock.
After an "informal" lunch, they toured Uluru Kata Tjuta National Park, before a slap-up dinner with Australian politicians at the award-winning open-air restaurant Sounds of Silence.
With grotesque irony, the official report noted that the MEPs were "afforded an opportunity" to discuss the plight of Aborigines while stuffing their faces.
The next day members watched the sunrise over Ayers Rock before enjoying a guided tour of the large domed rock formations and gorge at Kata Tjuta.
Wine
On March 3 their entire itinerary consisted of a private tour of limestone caves, a visit to Cape Leeuwin Lighthouse, a drive through Boranup Forest and trips to three vineyards.
Amazingly, despite being able to devote most of the day to vineyards, the MEPs spent just 15 MINUTES touring the New South Wales Parliament House.
And only 30 MINUTES was spent attending Question Time at Canberra's House of Representatives, with another 30 MINUTES at Question Time in the Senate Chamber.
In fact our detailed breakdown of the nine days shows they managed to squeeze in just 18 hours of official business.
Giles Chichester, who represents the South West and Gibraltar, was made chairman of the Australasia relations group last year.
The son of legendary round-the-world yachtsman Sir Francis Chichester, he took part in a similar jaunt Down Under in 2005.
And the same group of four visited NEW ZEALAND for eight days in 2006, where the trip took in the Villa Maria Winery, the Te Whau vineyard and an art gallery. The 5-star tour cost taxpayers around £110,000.
The four MEPs on the trips are in the top five of a list of tax-funded travellers. Northern Ireland MEP Nicholson tops it with an estimated cost to taxpayers of £40,350 on at least seven long-haul trips, including to the Maldives, Sri Lanka, Korea, Washington and Las Vegas.
Martin, Labour MEP for Scotland, is second with an estimated bill of £32,600, while Parish, who represents the South West, comes fourth with a cost of £22,800.
The group's trips are typical of what EU critics believe amounts to little more than free-loading junkets. Figures from independent think tank Open Europe show UK MEPs' trips have cost more than £240,000.
Open Europe estimates that MEPs have clocked up more than 10 million air miles since 2004-the equivalent of 20 moon trips-leaving a carbon footprint the same as driving round the world over 400 times.
The most expensive trip was by 67 MEPs to BARBADOS in 2006, which cost European taxpayers around £300,000.
Obscenely, its purpose was a conference on reducing poverty.
Tory Philip Bradbourn, who represents the West Midlands, enjoyed a visit to Table Mountain in SOUTH AFRICA and a wine route tour of the Neethlingshof Wine Estate in 2007. The six-day excursion is estimated to have cost £30,000.
Labour's Glenys Kinnock led a team of MEPs to the luxury resort of the SEYCHELLES in April to visit the tuna fish industry.
The former Labour leader's wife is third in the MEP travellers' list, costing taxpayers £28,000.
None of the MEPs taking part in the trips has breached any EU rules or profited financially.
But ordinary people who pick up the tab may well agree with Open Europe's Hugo Robinson:
"Why should we be expected to cough up millions of pounds so MEPs can travel to luxury resorts where they achieve little more than getting a suntan?" he demands.
It's Mr Eat on US
By Sophy Ridge
A EURO MP who basks in his reputation as a crusader against the misuse of public cash has been caught by the News of the World scoffing at how YOU pay for his fine dining.
Tory Chris Heaton-Harris has long campaigned AGAINST Brussels' lucrative expenses system.
He has impressed Tory chiefs so much he is being parachuted into a safe seat at Westminster and is virtually guaranteed to become an MP at the next election.
But the voters may be less impressed with the attitude towards their money he displayed to our undercover reporter. After he picked up the tab for tagliatelli and salmon plus wine in Brussels' ultra-posh The Staff restaurant, the East Midlands MEP bragged about who is really footing the bill.
He told our investigator-posing as a recent university graduate on work experience: "It is kind of the European taxpayer. The European taxpayer looks after us."
Amazingly, under crazy, money-wasting EU rules, he's doing nothing wrong.
Cheeky
The glib boast comes as we can reveal how, when not living off the taxpayer, MEPs are being wined and dined by lobbyists desperate to win their backing for controversial firms. Heaton-Harris again revealed their life of luxury on the EU gravy train.
"It's massive. Absolutely huge," he said. "You really don't have to pay for food or drink or anything, because you can, you know, just go anywhere. They just want your time."
His comment came before he spent an evening downing free food and booze, while a lobbying firm linked to the Premiership held a private screening of the Champions' League semi-final clash between Man Utd and Barcelona.
On his own website, Heaton-Harris, insists: "I have consistently led the fight against fraud and misuse of taxpayers' money."
But voters might also like to know that the football-loving part-time ref, who is married with two young children, acts more like a 18-year-old than a 40-year-old, living it up into the small
