Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2014-03-10-Speech-1-148-000"
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"en.20140310.14.1-148-000"2
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"Mr[nbsp ]President, the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) is anathema to my constituents. It is promoted as a benefit of the EU, yet we see precious little of the money from the fund – which is, after all, UK taxpayers’ money – being returned to us, and when it does come it is much reduced and has strings attached.
One ERDF-funded project is the Coventry Arena. In 2003 Coventry City Council received GBP[nbsp ]4.75[nbsp ]million from the fund. Last June I submitted a freedom-of-information request to the council seeking to ascertain the purpose of the grant. At the same time, I submitted an official question to the Commission seeking the same information. Imagine my surprise when the answers did not match. In fact, they could not be further apart.
With other information that has come to my attention in the past year, and given Coventry City Council’s constant refusal to meet me about these discrepancies in funding, I can only conclude that they have something to hide. When the Commission sought clarification of the situation, the council changed its position.
Today I can confirm that I am referring the matter to the EU anti-fraud office, OLAF, so that it can investigate this use of taxpayers’ money. There is something rotten at the heart of Coventry City Council. Is there something fraudulent as well?"@en1
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