By Martin Banks - 25th March 2008
One of parliament’s longest-serving deputies has announced he will quit as an MEP next year.
Danish member Jens-Peter Bonde, who was first to be elected in 1979 and has been an MEP ever since, says he wants to focus on building a “better EU.”
Bonde, who will be 60 on Thursday, says the move will represent an “important turning point” in his life, one which he intends to mark with a grand reception in Copenhagen.
Formerly a champion of Danish independence from the EU, Bonde says he has seen the EU change and has himself changed along with it.
When he first took part in meetings between the initial group leaders, Bonde recalls “how corrupt” the politicians involved were.
“They had cars and drivers paid by parliament and then they cashed travel allowances for the same travel,” he said.
But he says things have changed over the years, albeit slowly.
He said, “Proposals made by me to reform the travel allowances system went unheard for 20 years – but in the end democracy triumphed and the group leaders themselves gradually became the ones most interested in keeping a fair and clean house," he said.
“Things, however, are still far from perfect – as the recent issue of the secret audit report has shown.”
During his time as an MEP Bonde has spent more than half of the time as group leader or co-president. He currently co-chairs with Nigel Farage, of UKIP, the Independence and Democracy Group.
Bonde is currently the interim president of a pan-European movement called “EUDemocrats” and aims to launch similar groups throughout Europe.
The objective, he says, is for such groups to win seats in next year's European elections and to work “critically but constructively" in parliament.
Read Jens-Peter Bonde's refections on his years as an MEPhere.
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