EP Socialist MP Schulz has his little Charles Johnson / Glenn Beck moment (or a chronic Progressive Gilles de la Tourette syndrome, if you ask me): he calls Daniël van der Stoep (PVV) a “fascist” because the Dutch MEP has the nerve to ask for transparency in the expense accounts of European Commission President José Manuel Barroso.
The video below has mixed subtitles. Mr. Barroso spoke in English, and those portions have been subtitled for our Dutch readers. The Dutch and German portions are subtitled in English. Many thanks to Vlad Tepes for doing the subtitling:
The full transcript of the video is at the end of this post.
VH has accompanied the video with his abridged translation of an article from Dagelijkse Standaard:
“You want to see the receipts of the President? FASCIST!”- - - - - - - - -
A PVV member of the European Parliament succeeded in being styled a “fascist” by another MP. Did he make an absurd statement on immigration? Did he say something blunt about mosques? Or did he have a special solution to the problem of the Iranian ayatollahs? None of the above: Daniël van der Stoep (PVV) put his finger on the most sensitive spot of the EU. Not on the lack of democracy, but the really sensitive area, but the income of the members of the club, in this case that of Barroso, President of the EC. Because it had become clear Barroso declares over seven hundred thousand euros per year [US $1 million] as “expenses”, which is some €2,000 [U.S. $2,700] a day.
This is to the satisfaction of Martin Schulz, a member of the German SDP and the President of the EP Socialist Group. Schulz apparently believes that transparency at this point is not desirable and made this known by shouting “fascist” towards Van der Stoep (see video). Later he denied this to the Dutch NOS news [audio]: he did not shout that at the PVV parliamentarian, but at a member of the British UKIP party. When the NOS news reporter asked Schulz whether this, given recent events with Nigel Farage — the UKIP chairman who [notably on demand of the same Schulz video] received a €3,000 fine for stating that EU president Van Rompuy had “the charisma of a damp rag” — was appropriate, and Farage was fined for much less, Schulz suddenly denied having used the word “fascist” and walked away angrily.
“Schultz just called me ‘fascist’,” Van der Stoep told NOS news. “It became a heated debate, and he indeed used that word in my direction: Fascist. Which I find simply silly.” An hour later, a spokesman for Schultz called NOS news, saying the politician would still like to round out the interview. Schultz then admitted he had reacted too emotionally. “So next time, what will you do?” asked the reporter. Schultz: “Well, listen more carefully to my advisers, who tell me to ‘keep cool’”…
Video transcript
| 00:04.00 | Dani’l van der Stoep (PVV fraction Europarliament) | |
| 00:08.00 | Thank you, Mr. President… Mr. Barroso, openness and transparency… | |
| 00:12.00 | are basic values of every self-respecting democracy. | |
| 00:16.00 | If ruling authorities cannot be checked in their spending by their citizens,… | |
| 00:20.00 | then a suspicion of greed and self-enrichment may arise. | |
| 00:24.00 | We saw this for example last year in England. President, Dutch press… | |
| 00:28.00 | made public that President Barroso in 2009 had declared an amount of | |
| 00:32.00 | €730,000 [U.S. $1 million] on expenses. This is not only ridiculously too much… | |
| 00:36.00 | but also quite an achievement. Just try to get that done,… | |
| 00:40.00 | to declare each and every day again €2,000 [U.S. $2,700]. Hats off to Mr. Barroso! | |
| 00:44.00 | Chairman, seriously: the democratic control on these… | |
| 00:48.00 | declarations is in a bad state. An internal audit and few… | |
| 00:52.00 | pre-approved people may add their stamp of approval. | |
| 00:56.00 | Chairman, I insist that this committee, and Mr. Barroso in particular,… | |
| 01:00.00 | will abandon this cover-up culture and make their public declarations public… | |
| 01:04.00 | and transparent and publish it on the internet, so as every European citizen… | |
| 01:08.00 | has insight into the declarations. Please comment. | |
| 01:12.00 | ||
| 01:17.00 | Ik ben niet verrast door dit soort opmerkingen. | |
| 01:21.00 | In feite zijn de zogenaamde representatiekosten de kosten… | |
| 01:25.00 | die we maken ten dienste van de EU, voornamelijk reizen… | |
| 01:29.00 | van de leden van de commissie, mijzelf en de andere leden van de commissie. | |
| 01:34.00 | En in feite, als je dit bedrag vergelijkt met wat wordt uitgeven door regeringen… | |
| 01:38.00 | of de hoofden van regeringen, zult u zien dat… | |
| 01:42.00 | ze zeer klein zijn vergeleken met hun uitgaven. | |
| 01:46.00 | De begroting wordt jaarlijks vastgesteld… | |
| 01:50.00 | door de begrotingsautoriteit, en daar maakt u deel van uit, en dit… | |
| 01:54.00 | budget is 5 jaar hetzelfde gebleven, alleen aangepast voor inflatie. | |
| 01:58.00 | Wat betreft de uitgaven denk ik dat ze redelijk zijn en proportioneel… | |
| 02:02.00 | gezien de goede publieke zaak die het dient. | |
| 02:06.00 | En natuurlijk gebruiken wij volledige transparantie, die wij presenteren aan de begrotings- | |
| 02:10.00 | autoriteit, de Rekenkamer, al hetgeen van ons wordt verlangd. | |
| 02:15.00 | ||
| 02:19.00 | Thank you, Mr. President Barroso, | |
| 02:23.00 | According to Mr. Barroso, he gives parliament insight into the declarations, which is nonsense of course. | |
| 02:28.00 | Everything happens behind closed doors here. | |
| 02:32.00 | Everything is covered up. If Mr. Barroso wanted to create actual accountability, | |
| 02:36.00 | he’d just make those receipts public. And if he doesn’t want that, he should just say it… | |
| 02:40.00 | and honestly admit it. Mr. Barroso, if you just follow all the rules, | |
| 02:44.00 | I see no reason at all why you would not put those receipts on the internet, or… | |
| 02:48.00 | you’re just afraid of the reactions of the citizens. Just make them public. | |
| 02:23.00 | (Background: Chairman Socialist EP fraction Martin Schulz (SDP) screaming at Van der Stoep:… | |
| 02:27.00 | “You behave like a Fascist!” for demanding openness in expenditures} | |
| 02:58.00 | [Barroso] Eh, weet u… in een rechtssysteem, respecteren wij de regels… | |
| 03:03.00 | [UKIP MP’s to Socialist Schulz: Shut up! … Stop it!…] | |
| 03:07.00 | ||
| 03:11.00 | OK… De heer… de heer president Barosso zal antwoord geven. | |
| 02:15.00 | ||
| 03:19.00 | Eh, in een rechtssysteem, respecteren wij de regels van de wet… | |
| 03:23.00 | en als wij nu, stel, een analyse van de intenties van mensen gaan maken… | |
| 03:27.00 | dan is dat op zijn minst onredelijk. |
Hat tip: Paul Belien.
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