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		EU corruption cover up Wednesday 25th May 2005 The EU parliament closed ranks today to prevent investigation into reports of improper hospitality received by EU Commission President José Manuel Barroso, and to block negative publicity ahead of the French and Dutch referenda on the EU Constitution. 77 MEPs including East Midlands Conservative MEPs Roger Helmer and Chris Heaton-Harris had tabled a Motion of Censure on Barroso. The Censure Motion did not directly accuse him of impropriety (regarding a free holiday he received from Greek Spiro Latsis a multi-billionaire ship-owner and subsequent EU grant) but called on him to come to the parliament and explain himself. Barroso had previously refused a request from the Independent Democrats group in the parliament to come and account for his holiday. The major political groups in the parliament, concerned about possible damage to the EU's reputation at a critical time, made repeated attempts to block the motion by pressuring MEPs to withdraw their signatures. (The motion requires 10% of MEPs or 74 members to sign). When that failed, they then agreed there should be only one speaker per group. This effectively excluded any dissidents. As the Conservatives sit with the EPP group in the parliament, they were thus unable to speak in the debate and The EPP President, German Christian Democrat Hans-Gert Poettering, spoke for the whole EPP group. Roger Helmer said: "This again shows how the Conservative voice is stifled by our membership of the EPP". Both MEPs expressed their anger at the cover-up, and insisted that they were elected as British Conservatives, not German Christian Democrats." The five Conservative signatories believe their action was based directly on a clear manifesto commitment, and regret that some other colleagues did not see it in the same light. They have been threatened with the loss of the Conservative whip. See also President Barroso and the Motion of Censure