The European Parliament's fake jobs scandal keeps causing ripples. The latest development involves Michèle Alliot-Marie, who served as member of the French government for close to 10 years (2002-2011) and was elected to the Parliament in 2014. European lawmakers were expected to claim €600,000 from Alliot-Marie, who, they believe, employed her nephew Florian Olive as a parliamentary assistant from 2014 to 2019 without carrying out any substantial work, as first reported by Libération on Monday, September 11.
"I have not received this demand," Olive told Le Monde this week. "I'm waiting to see on what basis it is based before acting accordingly. But my work as a parliamentary assistant was effective." He added, providing evidence, that he had asked for an extended leave of absence in 2017 to take part in the early stages of Alliot-Marie's failed presidential campaign. Alliot-Marie did not answer Le Monde's request for comment.
The story began in 2016 when the European Anti-Fraud Office (OLAF) uncovered a system of fake jobs within the Front National (now Rassemblement National, RN) dating back to 2010, which enabled a number of its MEPs' parliamentary assistants to work for the far-right party in France at the expense of the European taxpayer. Since then, the loss has been estimated at €7 million, and Marine Le Pen herself has been ordered to repay €300,000 to the European Parliament.
Political ambitions
When the scandal came to light, the FN reported to OLAF that some 20 French MEPs from other political groupings might have infringed the rules too. A dozen elected representatives and executives from the French centrist party MoDem, including its leader François Bayrou, were implicated. They were referred to a criminal court in March.
Against this backdrop, OLAF also turned its attention to the case of Alliot-Marie, who has just turned 76 and is now retired from political life. On January 30, the European agency sent its findings to the European Parliament with a recommendation to recover some €600,000 from the former minister.
At this stage, the institution has not yet formally decided to follow this recommendation. However, there is little doubt that it will. "We always follow OLAF's recommendations; we're not crazy!" a source told Le Monde. The European Parliament first sought to check whether there were any other sums to claim, such as travel expenses in addition to the €600,000, another source said. After seven months of investigation, it would appear that there are no additional elements against Alliot-Marie.
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