European Parliament to look at Dalli accusations

The European Parliament is taking the resignation of John Dalli “very seriously” and wants to look deeply into the issue, the Parliament’s President Martin Schultz said last night. “On behalf of my colleagues in the Conference of Presidents, I have asked European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso to give us more details and further information about the reasons for the resignation of Mr Dalli and analyses of the accusations made by OLAF,” he told The Times. The Conference of Presidents is the highest institution of the EP and includes the Presidents of all the Parliamentary Groups represented in the Brussels chamber. OLAF is the EU’s anti-fraud agency. Mr Dalli resigned as European Commissioner for Health and Consumer Policy after the agency concluded he knew of an attempt by a Maltese businessman, using his contact with Mr Dalli, to gain financial benefit from a Swedish tobacco producer. This was in exchange for influence over a legislative proposal on a smokeless tobacco product called snus. Both Mr Dalli and Mr Zammit have denied these allegations. European Parliament sources said several MEPs were putting pressure on the Commission to reveal the details of OLAF’s...