Paul van Buitenen
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| Paul van Buitenen | |
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| In office 2004 – present |
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| Born | 28 May 1957 Breda, Netherlands |
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| Political party | Europe Transparent |
| Website | www.europatransparant.nl |
Paul van Buitenen (born 28 May 1957 in Breda) is a Member of the European Parliament for the Netherlands and a former European civil servant.
He was a Dutch assistant-auditor in the European Commission’s Financial Control Directorate becoming the whistleblower who first drew the attention of a Member of the European Parliament to the irregularities, fraud and mismanagement within the Commission in 1998. In May 2005, he also asked to the European Commission the creation of a parliamentary investigation, after learning that Frits Bolkestein (famous for the Directive on services in the internal market) was member of the Russian Bank Menatep's international consultative council (owned by Mikhail Khodorkovsky) and that he had worked for the Shell British-Dutch petrol company, two firms "detaining secret accounts in Clearstream".
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[edit] 1998 whistleblowing
His whistleblowing led to the resignation of the Commission presided by Jacques Santer (who has also been prime minister of Luxembourg) and the fall of Edith Cresson. For this, he was suspended, had his salary halved and ordered to face disciplinary action. He fought on and his exposures triggered the collapse of Jacques Santer's Commission, of which Edith Cresson was particularly criticised.
Eventually he was - at least partially - forgiven and returned to the organisation in 2003 but in a different capacity. Nevertheless, he would later leave for good in order to pursue a political career.
He has been named 'European of the Year' by Reader's Digest magazine and the Australian Broadcasting Commission. He said he would donate his prize money to a fund in the Netherlands for helping other whistleblowers and he wrote a book which reveals the whole story.
[edit] 2006 whistleblowing
On April 26, 2006, daily 20 Minutes revealed that "in May 2005, MEP Paul van Buitenen was shocked by Frits Bolkestein's presence to Menatep's international consultative council, a sulfurous Russian banking establishment, and by his work for Shell, British-Dutch petrol company. Two firms 'detaining secret accounts in Clearstream' ... van Buitenen, also Dutch, then asked for 'clarification' to the European Commission and the opening of a parliamentary investigation. The Commission's president, José Manuel Barroso, answered that these facts "don't bring up any new question" and that it is not known "if Menatep took contact with Bolkestein while he was in his functions". No investigation thereby took place." The free daily underlines that "in 2001, it was Bolkestein himself that announced the Commission's refusal to open up a parliamentary investigation on Clearstream", following Harlem Désir's requests and accusations that Menatep had an "undeclared account" at Clearstream. Bolkestein refused to answer any questions by the newspaper.[1]
[edit] Transparency and current functions
Paul van Buitenen is now vindicated with the reforms that are being made to create more transparency. A body to oversee standards in Euro-public life has been created - along the lines of the UK's Nolan Commission. Accounting and auditing reforms have been introduced throughout the European Commission, which were monitored by former vice-president Lord Kinnock.
Pledging to continue the fight against fraud and bureaucratic inefficiency on the European level, van Buitenen founded a party named Europa Transparant, ran with it for the European Parliament in the 2004 elections (in the Netherlands) and won two seats for his party. Van Buitenen joined the Greens-EFA group in the European Parliament as an independent member [1].
His current functions in the European Parliament are
- Member of the Committee on Budgetary Control,
- Substitute for the Committee on Petitions and
- Substitute for the Delegation for relations with Switzerland, Iceland and Norway and to the European Economic Area (EEA) Joint Parliamentary Committee.
- To promote transparency, in 2005 Hans Peter Martin, Paul van Buitenen (Europa Transparant) and Ashley Mote decided to cooperate under the name Platform for Transparency (PfT).
[edit] References
- ^ (French) "Révélation 20 Minutes : Quand la Commission européenne refusait d'enquêter sur Clearstream", 20 Minutes, April 26, 2006. Retrieved on April 29, 2006.
[edit] Books on subject
- Andreas Oldag, Hans-Martin Tillack: Raumschiff Brüssel – Wie die Demokratie in Europa scheitert (in German, Spaceship Brussels – How Democracy in Europe fails), Argon Verlag, 2003 (1st ed., hardcover), ISBN 3870245786, ISBN 978-3870245788 / Fischer, Frankfurt 2004 (2nd ed.) ISBN 3596157463, ISBN 978-3596157464
- Paul van Buitenen: Blowing the Whistle: Fraud in the European Commission, Politicos Pub, 2000, ISBN 1902301463, ISBN 978-1902301464
[edit] See also
[edit] Biography
- 1977: Foundation course in mechanical engineering (Eindhoven Technical College
- 1979-1980: Military service
- 1980: Diploma in bookkeeping
- 1980-1985: Assistant accountant
- 1983: Foundation course at the Netherlands Institute of Certified Public Accountants
- 1985-1986: Head of the planning department in a manufacturing company
- 1986-1990: University budget policy adviser
- 1990-2002 and 2003-2004: Official of the European Commission
- 2002-2003: Financial management advisor to the police
See also: European Parliament election, 2004 (Netherlands)
[edit] External links
- Website of Paul van Buitenen / Europa Transparant, Also in English
- European Parliament biography of Paul van Buitenen (incl. Speeches, Questions and Motions)
- Declaration of financial interests (in Dutch;
PDF) - Brussels whistleblower quits in despair
- Article about van Buitenen's whistle-blowing
- The Story of Paul van Buitenen
- Articles mentioning van Buitenen
- EUABC article about van Buitenen
