MEPs claim they have banned gifts and junkets but they will still be allowed to accept invitations
MEPs claim they have banned gifts and junkets but they will still be allowed to accept invitations from foreign governments and benefits in cash or kind on top of regular pay and expenses - provided they relate to their work and are declared in the public register.The hope is that the obligation to disclose benefits or invitations will effectively put an end to the spectacle of hundreds of MEPs jetting off to Turkey for a week prior to a crucial Strasbourg vote on the EU- Turkey association agreement.Labour MEP for Manchester, Glyn Ford, who campaigned for the measures admitted the formula was not perfect, but said MEPs would now be makingfuller declarations of what they received than members of the House of Commons. In a move which they claim gives them the moral edge on their Westminster counterparts, Euro MPs yesterday voted to accept a ban on gifts from outside interests and junkets to exotic locations. They stopped short, however, of defining what constitutes a gift, or allowing their financial interests to be subjected to public scrutiny. After seven years of internal wrangling, deputies hope the latest plan will clean up the gravy-train public image of the parliament and boost the campaign to win more legislative powers. The vote comes as a breakthrough for those who have been attempting to open the lid on the business activities of MEPs and also regulate the growing army of professional lobbyists prowling the corridors of Strasbourg. "To portray something which is an evident success as a bad measure is simply not fair," he said.. "This law clearly discriminates against all those who before 1989 were outside the communist nomenclature," Adam Michnik, editor of the daily Gazeta Wyborcza, wrote. President Aleksander Kwasniewski, himself a former communist, signed the civil service law on Tuesday, even though he agreed with opposition charges that it contained flaws.The measure, linked to a wider administrative reform, aims to guarantee that officials are properly qualified.But it rules that top officials must have seven years' experience, including four years in managerial posts - leading critics to accuse the ruling ex-communist Democratic Left Alliance (SLD) of blocking those who were not part of the pre-1989 communist system.They also object to a provision that graduates of a special national college, founded in the early 1990s to train civil servants for democratic Poland, will not qualify for higher posts."This law is clearly bad as it puts people from the old system into privileged positions," said Andrzej Potocki, spokesman of the centrist opposition, Union for Freedom.Mr Kwasniewski, who is close to the SLD he once led, acknowledged that there were problems with the otherwise necessary law and wrote to parliament suggesting changes before it takes effect on 1 January.Mr Potocki said that his party would accordingly have an amendment to the law ready this week."We will propose limiting the required period in office from seven to three years, including a requirement for knowledge of foreign languages among lower officials, and allowing graduates of the National School of Public Administration to attain high posts," he said.Dariusz Klimaszewski, press liaison officer for the SLD's core party, said the charges of favouring ex-communists were unfounded as veterans of the old system were retiring anyway.He said there might be a case for introducing a fast-track for talented young people to senior jobs, but he attacked the outspoken criticism of the new law. Warsaw (Reuter) - Critics yesterday denounced a new law regulating Poland's public administration for excluding all except ex-communist officials from top civil service posts.
The general is expected to work closely with Mr Lebed on a programme of far-reaching reforms intended to modernise the army.. He was commander of the Transcaucasus military district in April 1989 when his forces killed 19 Georgian nationalist demonstrators in Tbilisi.A Soviet parliamentary commission later blamed General Rodionov for "violations" in Georgia. But in his memoirs published earlier this year, Mr Lebed said his friend ought not to have been made a scapegoat for politicians' mistakes.He was later appointed to run the General Staff Academy, which he now leaves for the defence ministry. Mr Lebed had made no secret of his intense dislike of Mr Grachev and almost certainly made the minister's dismissal a condition of his acceptance of the national security jobs.General Rodionov served with Mr Lebed in the Soviet armed forces in Georgia in the 1980s, when pressure for independence was growing in the small southern republic. One general and pro-government member of parliament, Lev Rokhlin, said Mr Yeltsin had been considering General Rodionov for the defence minister's job several months ago.The job became vacant after Mr Yeltsin, seeking votes in the second round of Russia's presidential election, sacked the unpopular Pavel Grachev, a loyal ally during the attempted coups of 1991 and 1993. The President's office named the new minister as General Igor Rodionov, 59, who has career ties with Mr Lebed dating back to the Soviet era. He described the white-haired General Rodionov as "a brilliant general, a worthy and valiant man". However, Russian military specialists said it would be wrong to conclude that Mr Lebed had forced General Rodionov's appointment on Mr Yeltsin, who has been in poor health for the past three weeks.
Mr Lebed, a retired general, mounted a vigorous public campaign for his friend's promotion after being appointed last month to the twin posts of secretary of the Security Council and Mr Yeltsin's national security adviser. President Boris Yeltsin appointed a new defence minister yesterday in a move that appeared to strengthen the influence of Alexander Lebed, his national security chief. In a chirpy contribution to the New York Times book review a few weeks back, America's best-known unknown complained of suffering "post-traumatic success disorder" But, he continued, "I am free to try my hand at this again And believe me, I will.". Confronted with the new evidence, the Klein denial became a terse "no comment." The game, alas, is surely up.But Mr Klein (assuming it is he) has the consolation of having made himself a very rich man. US hardback sales top 500,000, foreign rights are flowing in, and a film is on the way. By the end of the day Primary Colors will have netted at least $6m.
Mr Klein, the Post noted, bought a $630,000 house in the New York suburbs in July last year, putting up half that sum in cash. He also has three cars (though the newest of them is two years old).For their part, fans of the book have the consolation that Mr Klein's witty and racy political column is available every week in Newsweek, and that more from Anonymous is on the way. The two samples of handwriting were "absolutely consistent" throughout - and, if the magnified specimens of "w," "i," and "t," displayed in the Post's article are anything to go by, no layman could disagree. In the latter group, a computer comparison of the style of the novel with the writings of leading contenders established Mr Klein as the leading suspect. But he denied all, and there the matter seemed to rest.No longer. the Washington Post obtained an early manuscript of Primary Colors with its author's handwritten corrections, and samples of the handwriting of Mr Klein.