31/3/2013: Are European Brahmins Cypriot crisis-free?

In an Orwelian Universe that is the EU, the rules are different for different castes... the Brahmins are, obviously, the top of the pile. Not surprisingly, amidst deposits outflows from Cyprus immediately prior to the EU sanctioned expropriations, there are strands of Cypriot Brahmins rushing out of their banks. Here's the report by Rossija 24 - Russian news agency on the topic:

 via a tweet:

Let's translate verbatim the above:

"Greek press has found compromising material on Cypriot President. According to the Greek media sources, few days before the Eurogroup decision to bail-in deposits, relatives of President Nicos Anastasiades took emergency steps to save their funds. The issue concerns the amount of EUR21 million in funds. A company, which belongs to the relatives of the President, transfered these funds from Laiki bank to London, as reported by the Rossija 24 TV channel. The Laiki Bank is currently undergoing restructuring, and haircuts on clients' funds can reach up to 80 percent."

We should note, of course, that this is just one report, albeit here is a Cypriot press report from just 30 minutes ago covering the same: http://www.incyprus.com.cy/en-gb/Top-Stories-News/4342/33996/money-movements-questioned and Greek reports: http://www.imerisia.gr/article.asp?catid=26517&subid=2&pubid=113018547 and http://www.nooz.gr/economy/suggeneis-anastasiadi-evgalan-kata8eseis-apo-ti-laiki31313 and http://www.zougla.gr/kosmos/article/ligo-prin-to-eurogroup-melos-tis-ikogenias-tou-anstasiadi-figadefse-xrimata .

15/05/2011: Public procurement

Ireland's "Social Partnership Capitalism" illustrated in one chart:
And it's getting worse. Data taken from eurostat shows that openly advertised procurement contracts for public sector purchasing have risen from 2.6% of Irish GDP in 2005 to 3.4% in 2007 before falling back to 2.2% in 2009.

Hush-Hush & Sweep it under the Rug: EU's latest 'transparency' move

Last week EUObserver reported an interesting story (here) about the EU Commission efforts to keep transparency at bay.

Per EUObserver report: "New rules on public access to EU documents have prompted one of the European Commission's key departments to circulate a memo warning officials to be careful about what they write in emails and advising them on how to narrowly interpret requests for information. The 15-page handbook was circulated in January to officials working in the commission directorate for trade, one of the EU's most important policy areas affecting millions of people both within and beyond the bloc.

"Each official must be aware that all his/her documents, including meeting reports and e-mails can potentially be disclosed. You should keep this in mind when writing such documents. This is particularly the case for meeting reports and emails with third parties (e.g. industry)," reads the memo.

It asks officials... to avoid making references to informal contacts, such as meals or drinks, with lobbyists. "Don't refer to the great lunch you have had with an industry representative privately or add a PS asking if he/she would like to meet for a drink." [Hold it, folks - wouldn't such a PS qualify as a solicitation of a payoff in the first place?] The document also tips off officials on how to narrow down the interpretation of a request for information. It points to a past example where a request referred to DG trade meetings with individual companies, meaning the department could avoid making public its contacts with business lobbyists."

Well, there is more the EUObserver report worth reading, but what is absolutely clear is that the EU Commission has absolutely no interest in following the spirit of the disclosure rules, preferring instead to bend the rule-book in order to conceal the extent, nature and effectiveness of lobbyists, as well as to cover up its own governance practices.

Of course, one solution to this problem is to make all information concerning EU public - including the so-called commercially-sensitive one. Taxpayers must be allowed to know who was bidding on which projects, how these bids were evaluated and judged and how the bidding companies spent their lobbying money. This will include a transparent and complete list of lobbying organizations, bureaucrats diaries and other information that can assist us, the taxpayers, in determining who dined with whom, when, why and at whose expense.

In fact, they should also be required to post the actual bills paid - in my humble opinion, if MEPs claim expenses on things like meals and entertainment, I would like to know how many lobsters were eaten in Brussels on the back of my taxes... wouldn't you?

And let's apply the same principles to our local politicians and officials...