ÖVP-MEP Ernst Strasser resigns after lobbying scandal

[Tender Branson]

It's about time !

European Parliament member resigns over 'cash for laws' scandal

Ernst Strasser, a former Austrian interior minister, has stepped down after accepting money for successfully submitting legislative changes to EU banking regulations.

He was one of three MEPs who were willing to push through legal amendments on behalf of a firm of "lobbyists", Taylor Jones Public Affairs, a fake company set up by The Sunday Times.

Mr Strasser, who led the Christian democratic Austrian People's Party (OVP) in European elections two years ago, has said he has done nothing wrong and stressed he was standing down to prevent "damage" to Austria's coalition government.

"I have decided to take this step because there has been a campaign against me in Austria," he said.

Josef Proell, Austria's vice-chancellor and OVP leader, yesterday demanded the MEP's "immediate resignation from all political posts".

"All of Ernst Strasser's justifications so far ring completely hollow given today's revelations," he said.

Mr Strasser boasted to undercover journalists that he earns £436,000 a year for lobbying on top of his MEP salary and personal allowances of over £190,000.

He also explained that if he was to change laws in the European parliament then he must take precautions to avoid suspicion. "The problem is, a lobbyist is a lobbyist, yes," he told a hidden camera. "And a lobbyist has some special smell. It's true to be said I am myself something like that. So we have to be very careful."

Two other MEPs were implicated by the newspaper, Adrian Severin, a former Romanian deputy prime minister and Zoran Thaler, a former Slovenian foreign minister.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/eu/8393797/European-Parliament-member-resigns-over-cash-for-laws-scandal.html

[Franzl]

Who really cares about MEPs?

[Tender Branson]

The corruption department of public prosecution will now press charges against him and he could face 10 years in prison for being a corrupt MEP.

[Tender Branson]

And, who does the ÖVP pick to take Strasser's seat in the EU Parliament ?

Another lobbyist: Hubert Pirker

http://derstandard.at/1297821054165/OeVP-Mandat-Pirker-soll-Strasser-folgen

[Hans-im-Glück]

And, who does the ÖVP pick to take Strasser's seat in the EU Parliament ?

Another lobbyist: Hubert Pirker

http://derstandard.at/1297821054165/OeVP-Mandat-Pirker-soll-Strasser-folgen

Then he isn't alone there. The EU Parliament is full of lobbyists.

[Tender Branson]

Another Austrian EU legislator steps down in new scandal

Vienna - The Austrian People's Party lost a second European parliamentarian over alleged scandals this month, as conservative EU legislator Hella Ranner announced her resignation Tuesday.

Ranner reacted to media reports that she had illegally used her expense account to pay off debts of an insolvent consulting company that she partly owns.

'I will use all my time and energy in the near future to refute the accusations,' she said in a statement.

Her resignation followed that of People's Party fraction leader Ernst Strasser on March 20. Britain's Sunday Times newspaper accused the former Austrian interior minister of having accepted cash to change draft European Union laws, based on his secretly filmed conversations with undercover reporters.

He was questioned by the Austrian anti-corruption prosecution office Monday and several locations were searched in connection with the case, Austrian public radio Ö1 reported.

http://www.monstersandcritics.com/news/europe/news/article_1629430.php/Another-Austrian-EU-legislator-steps-down-in-new-scandal

That will probably only increase the hatred of Austrians toward the EU ...

[Filuwaúrdjan]

Who really cares about MEPs?

Quite, quite. And that's the problem.