EU chief Barroso ‘did not know’ of Barrot case

José Manuel Barroso did not know of Jacques Barrot’s involvement in a French political party funding scandal – until the case was raised by an MEP on Thursday.

The French transport commissioner was on Thursday accused by an anti-EU UK MEP of having a past criminal conviction.

Speaking on Friday a European Commission spokesman stressed that a criminal conviction had never been recorded against Barrot and that the former right-wing party boss had never been barred from public office.

“Mr Barroso found out about this yesterday, Mr Barrot has a clean record. He has never been prevented from taking public office,” he said.

Case 'not raised' during appointment process

Not only did the EU executive president not know of Barrot’s brush with the French law over party funding scandals endemic in the 90s, Barroso also considered him for the EU’s justice job.

And during intense recent negotiations over posts in Barroso’s commission, Barrot’s four-year old prosecution was not communicated, either by the man himself or Paris.

“The issue was not raised,” said the Brussels spokesman.

“There was not an issue.”

“Mr Barrot has never been found unfit for public office, has never been barred form public office.”

“In terms of the case, which refers to party funds, Mr Barrot has never been accused of personal enrichment.”

Pardoned

Barrot was in 2000 convicted by a French court of “abuse of confidence” in a party funding case involving the ‘Centre des démocrates sociaux’(CDS), an organisation he headed.

The CDS was a precursor to Jacques Chirac’s ‘Union pour un Mouvement Populaire’ (UMP) – and Barrot is a close political ally to the French president.

But the eight month suspended jail sentence he received was automatically wiped clean on judgement by a 1995 presidential amnesty – introduced by the incoming French President Chirac.

Barrot was then innocent under French law – and also unable to appeal the case, during which he protested his innocence.

“He says ‘there was never any evidence of illegality on my side’,” said a source close to Barrot.

The then leader of the CDS was judged in a French court under collective rather than personal responsibility for party finances.

“A political decision-making role frequently implies decisions of a financial nature,” concluded the four year old judgment.

'Dark grey'

The case was not unusual: until 1991 there was no legal system governing party political finance in France.

The 90’s saw French politicians from across political parties investigated and in some cases convicted – often for offences relating to before 1991.

EU officials were on Friday playing down the issue and the pardoned conviction as a “dark grey and not unusual episode in French history”.

But other new European commissioners have been quizzed extensively over their political pasts in Eastern Europe.

'Inconvenient moment in political history'

Fellow commission vice-president to Barrot, Estonia’s Siim Kallas declared, and defended himself against, allegations surrounding a million fraud – for which he was acquitted.

And in Barroso’s recent commission re-shuffle Latvia’s Ingrida Udre was sacked, at least in part, because of allegations of party funding irregularities for which she was under investigation.

“If Eastern Europeans have to declare past allegations or were sacked because of ongoing investigations, why should a Frenchman get off the hook just because his countrymen, and president, turn a blind eye to an inconvenient moment in political history,” said one EU source.

Barrot has demanded that UKIP MEP Nigel Farage withdraw comments that he has a “conviction for embezzlement”.

“He has to withdraw what he said, so the matter is cleared up, so that the [European] parliament can be sure of the truth,” Barrot told French TV on Friday.

No mention allowed

Under French law pardoned offences can not be mentioned and Barrot insists Farage's comments, made in front of the European Parliament, “appear very much to be defamatory”.

Barrot has also reminded journalists, that in France anyway, Chirac’s 1995 amnesty prevents public discussion of the 2000 judgment.

And the commissioner’s lawyer John-Pierre Mignard issued a Friday statement warning that any reference to the case could be liable to legal action under the French criminal law.

Farage is unapologetic and is calling on Barroso to sack Barrot.

“Barrot chose not to make either the commission president or the parliament aware that he had a conviction for embezzlement,” he said.

“It is inconceivable that he simply ‘forgot to mention it’, and therefore, he should be sacked immediately in order to regain what little public confidence the commission had in the first place.”

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