THE EU: The European Commission has received assurances from the heads of all its departments that alleged financial irregularities at Eurostat have not been replicated elsewhere in the institution, at least since 2000.
The Commission gave details of the assurances in Strasbourg as members of the European Parliament's Budgetary Control Committee prepare to examine two reports into the Eurostat affair tonight.
The reports are expected to suggest that most of the unauthorised practices at Eurostat, the EU's statistical agency, ended before Mr Romano Prodi's Commission took office in 2000, although the agency's financial management remained "imperfect" into 2001. Auditors are believed to have found no evidence that anyone at Eurostat personally benefited from EU funds that were used irregularly.
There are reports, however, that some of the money was used to subsidise a Commission volleyball club, as well as dinners and outings for staff.
The President of the European Parliament, Mr Pat Cox, insisted MEPs would not flinch from a confrontation with the Commission, if necessary.
"What we'll have to do is follow the evidence, act proportionately and do our duty," he said.
The European Parliament forced Mr Jacques Santer's entire Commission to resign in 1999 after revelations of corruption and nepotism. Some MEPs believe that the allegations against Eurostat are serious enough to warrant the resignation of at least one member of Mr Prodi's Commission.
A preliminary audit of Eurostat discovered earlier this year that the agency employed a system of double accounting, which inflated the value of some outside contracts and claimed EU funds for some contracts that did not exist.
The Commission has launched two investigations into the scandal - an examination of 400 out of 1,200 contracts issued by Eurostat, and an assessment of the agency's management system.
The EU's anti-fraud agency, OLAF, is also investigating Eurostat, and French prosecutors have launched criminal proceedings against some of the key figures in the scandal.
Tomorrow afternoon, Mr Prodi will brief the leaders of the Parliament's political groups and members of the Budget Control Committee on the Commission's investigations, which remain incomplete.
Mr Cox played down speculation that tomorrow's meeting would precipitate the resignation of Mr Pedro Solbes, the Commissioner responsible for Eurostat, or of Mr Neil Kinnock, who is in charge of the Commission's internal reform.
"I don't expect the meeting on Thursday can be in some way a definitive meeting because there are too many other reports being awaited," he said.
Mr Prodi's spokesman said yesterday that the heads of all the Commission's internal departments had conducted an internal inquiry to determine if the practices at Eurostat were repeated elsewhere in the Commission. They concluded that no such irregularities were committed at least since 2000.
