Like many people I have been disgusted by the way the European Commission handled the John Dalli case. More cynical observers are saying it’s just another huge scandal that the Berlaymont machine is trying to cover up.
You know, sometimes Brussels feels more like Chicago in the 30s. But the Dalli cover up, now entering the ‘save your own necks’ stage could end unpredictably as new players, like the Federal Prosecutor of Belgium are now involved.
New Europe believes that Europe needs an administration that is better, uncorrupt and transparent, a position we share with Ingeborg Grassle MEP, who writes on the Dalli case, from a differing perspective than ours.
We welcome this, for Europe needs a mixture of voices and views. However, reading her article, a couple of thoughts occur about the previous German administration of OLAF, in particular, two serious and concrete cases come to mind; Athens airport and Eximo, both of German concern.
The Eximo case was small, a mere €20 million was lost, but it was a flagrant fraud and OLAF did nothing. New Europe published mountains of documents, more than sufficient for any provincial prosecutor to open an investigation, yet OLAF was limited to meaningless correspondence and never touched the substance of the case.
The Athens airport case was a project that cost under €300 million, but Greeks and Europeans paid €2.35 billion.
It was a fraud so large it contributed to the Greek bankruptcy, not because of the €2 billion in loot, but because the German company which is managing the airport has made it one of the three most expensive airports in Europe and for the past 13 years it completely destroyed the main source of income for Greece; tourism.
OLAF did investigate the matter, gave its blessing to the loot and… closed the file. Why? Because the company, which benefitted from the loot, was German and the Commissioner which blessed the loot was German.
Is this the OLAF you dream for, dear EPP MEP?
How we know Dalli never resigned
But let’s speak of the Dalli case. From what I remember, on 16 October, 2012, when President Jose Barroso dismissed John Dalli claiming that he resigned, your EPP asked Barroso for an explanation (two days after in the Bucharest EPP Congress) and he said, “Dalli resigned, the issue is over, trust me.”
Your EPP was happy with the reply, trusted Mr. Barroso and never called John Dalli, an EPP Commissioner, to get his story on the case.
Now, after the recent revelations on the innocence of the Maltese Commissioner and despite which, the Commission did not change its stance on the matter, the EPP is showing a different perspective. Despite Jose Barroso saying that he is looking for a third mandate (planning to move to the Secretariat General of the UN after two years) as you well know, the EPP is ruling out Barroso and is considering as its candidate another personality such as Jose Maria Athnar or Nicolas Sarkozy, etc.
As to the Dalli case, I can assure you dear Ms. Gressle that John Dalli never resigned.
On that afternoon of 16 October around 4 pm, Barroso handed Dalli a written resignation to sign but I, myself, stopped John from signing it.
Yes Madame, Dalli never resigned. The oral resignation the Commission is talking about is a joke for elementary school kids. Indeed, Barroso explicitly asked for a signed resignation and gave a ready-to-sign draft to Dalli, which he never did sign.
What OLAF should examine
Coming to the notorious OLAF report, I read it carefully and in no place does it recommend dismissing John Dalli. On the contrary says that Dalli did not receive any bribe and did not stop or alter the Tobacco Products Directive. I will remind you that the Directive was stopped after Dalli was dismissed.
Don’t you think that this is something OLAF must investigate?
While we’re on the subject of OLAF and investigations, a couple of weeks ago we published two documents:
(a) An email from Director General SANCO Paola Testori to Secretary General Catharine Day confirming the change of the content of the Tobacco Directive (according to the wishes of the industry), dated five weeks before the dismissal of John Dalli (without putting the Commissioner or his Cabinet in the loop of the mail).
(b) The testimony of Paola Testori to OLAF two months earlier assuring the anti-fraud investigators that no changes in the Directive were planned or considered.
If you care about transparency, why don’t you ask OLAF to open an investigation on Paola Testori and Catharine Day on this matter?
Finally, who do you consider responsible for initiating the dismissal of John Dalli with ultimate result being the blockage of the Tobacco Products Directive? Is it Jose Manuel Barroso, Catherine Day or Giovanni Kessler?
You know Ms. Grassle, in Greece we have an expression, which properly fits the case, “I want to become a saint but the devils do not let me.”
A MEP who embraces the cause of honesty, openness and transparency would surely feel that there does need to be an investigation into the actions of the Commission itself, wouldn’t you agree?
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