The Presidency of the European Parliament concludes that MELD and FELD, led by [Morten Messerschmidt] from the Danish People's Party, abused hundreds of thousands of euros of EU funds.
By Per Mathiessen, James Kristoffer Miles, Emil Ingvorsen
At a meeting this evening, the Presidency of the European Parliament has decided that the 'European party' MELD and the foundation FELD have abused 402,481 euros of EU funds, which are now demanded to be repaid.
The European Parliament has announced this in a press release [that I can't find].
Until 2016, the head of the two organizations was Morten Messerschmidt, MEP for the Danish People's Party.
The Parliament will now refer to the leaders of MELD and FELD to have the money paid back to the EU.
But since the coffers at MELD and FELD are largely empty, the leaders of the Parliament will go to court to be compensated by the leaders of the organizations, thereby making Morten Messerschmidt risk that a court will order him to be personally liable for the amount.
According to the Presidency of the European Parliament, the majority of the amount – hundreds of thousands of euros – has been used contrary to the rules about politics, on political campaigns in Denmark for the Danish People's Party, and to pay a "golden handshake" to a former employee.
As a so-called "political party at the European level," MELD can have its expenses to political campaigns covers. However, it is contrary to the rules if this support is directly or indirectly spent on financing national political parties or candidates. And the funds must also not be "used for financing referendum campaigns," according to the Parliament's rules, articles 7 and 8.
Critique from accountants after a large deficit
Both MELD and FELD were forced to close on 31 December of last year. Yet, two reminders from the European Parliament were necessary before MELD several weeks late, on 18 March, could publish its financial statement for 2015. It showed a deficit of [DKK 729,000 = slightly less than] 100,000 euros.
The financial statement – signed by foreman Morten Messerschmidt – receives a harsh critique from the independent accounting firm Ernst & Young.
According to Ernst & Young, the financial statement is missing explanations from the leadership (Morten Messerschmidt, ed.) concerning some large extraordinary expenses.
"Since there has been given no explanation in the notes to the financial statement about the financial situation of the organization, we find that fundamental information is missing, which has a significant and thorough influence on the financial statement as a whole."
"The financial statement – concerning its balance, annual accounts, and notes – does not, in our view, give a true and accurate impression of the organization's net wealth and financial situation," the accounting firm writes, among other things.
Messerschmidt keeps steady
However, Morten Messerschmidt continues to insist that he has followed the rules concerning the political campaigns for the Danish People's Party.
He now demands that all parties and foundations "at an European level" are sifted through in the same way as MELD and FELD.
Furthermore, he is ready to involve the Ombudsman and take the fight about paying compensation to court.
According to the sources of [the magazine], the leaders of the Danish People's Party have yet to pay the money on behalf of Morten Messerschmidt.