Andreason expresses 'shock' at EC decision
Marta Andreasen has told Accountancy Age of her 'shock' today over learning of her dismissal from the European Commission.
Link: EC chief accountant Andreasen sacked
She said she was surprised and disappointed that the outgoing Romano Prodi Commission ‘has allowed itself to be manipulated by officials that formed a power group which has been managing funds without control for years’.
Continuing the attacks on outgoing Commission vice president for administration Neil Kinnock which was partly responsible for her sacking, she said: ‘The members of this power group are precisely those who Kinnock nominated to judge me in the disciplinary board. It’s an evident conflict of interest to start with.’
Andreasen said she would continue her battle with the new team of Commissioners who take office on 1 November, where she could appeal under Article 90 of the staff regulations.
Depending on the response, ‘I might go to the European Court of Justice,’ she said. ‘I’m going to continue the battle to show how open the system is to fraud and how they want to maintain it. I believe that time is going to prove I’m right because in the near future some other cases, like Eurostat, are coming up.
‘[The Prodi Commission] has managed funds with a vulnerable system in the knowledge that it was vulnerable and they really don’t want to make any change,’ she said.
Former chief accountant at the Commission Andreasen said she would now look for another job. ‘I believe that my experience both in the financial accounting arena and also more precisely in the European Commission would make me a valuable candidate for jobs relating to corporate governance, or advisories to boards of administration,’ she said.
However nothing specific has been arranged yet, she stressed.
