BUDGET: NEIL KINNOCK FACES GRILLING FROM MEMBERS OF THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENTS OVER FORMER CHIEF ACCOUNTANT.

Interviewed on September 9 by the European Parliament's Committee on Budgetary Control, Neil Kinnock, the European Commission's Vice-President turned out to be a staunch defence of his institution's attitude towards the disciplinary proceedings initiated against the ousted Chief Accountant Marta Andreasen (see European Report 2708, same Section). Questioned by Christopher Heaton-Harris (EPP, United Kingdom), who accused the Commission of cooking the books in common with the heads of Enron and WorldCom, Mr Kinnock slammed the "gross ignorance" of the young Tory MEP, who for that matter seems to be conducting a personal crusade in this case. The Anglo-British trend the controversy has taken was confirmed when Eluned Morgan (PES, United Kingdom) came up with unconditional support for Mr Kinnock, along with the obvious political dimension. Michael van Hulten (PES, Netherlands) believes this is more of an underlying problem of communication. In fact the other components of the EPP, starting with the Chair of the Committee on Budgetary Control, Diemut Theato (EPP-ED, Germany) appear not to be getting too involved in the issue.

Mr Kinnock repeated that contrary to...