Paul van Buitenen
|
Paul van Buitenen. source: www.europarl.eu.int |
Paul van Buitenen (born
28 May,
1957 in
Breda) 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".
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 magazineand 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.
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.
[ ]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).
=See Also=
*
Accountability in the European Union*
Clearstream scandal* 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)*
Website of Paul van Buitenen / Europa Transparant, Also in English*
*
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
