They are the new aristocrats of Europe — elected representatives who enjoy free holidays, dinners at Michelin-starred restaurants, an on-call chauffeur service and generous second pensions funded entirely by the taxpayer.

But MEPs who take full advantage of their well-funded allowances are often not breaking any rules technically, as a secret audit hushed up by the European Parliament would show, were it ever to see the light of day. The shocking truth about the gilded life of some MEPs is that their largesse is sanctioned mostly by the Brussels Establishment that refuses to publish its own research into the many possible fiddles or to hold an open debate about root and branch reform.

One well-known trick involves the overseas travel allowance, an annual pot of €3,500 (£2,650) a year for trips outside of Europe on EU business. It was too much to resist for the British MEP said to have enjoyed a relaxing holiday in Thailand.

“I remember him coming back from his summer holiday boasting about how he pulled a fast one,” said one Brussels official yesterday, who refused to name the MEP.

“He went to Thailand for a holiday and made sure that he popped into the European Commission office in Bangkok for a half-hour meeting. This was officially recorded and used to claim the whole trip on expenses.”

Similar tales are common in the coffee bars of the European Parliament. Another MEP is said to have used the same method to attend the wedding of his daughter in the United States.

“They have designed a system where it is actually harder to be honest than to be dishonest,” said Jeffrey Titford, a UK Independence Party MEP and one of the few members of the European Parliament’s budget control committee to vote on Tuesday to publish the secret auditor’s report, which is said to have many recommendations for reforms.

“We are supposed to trust these people to reform the system themselves when we really need an external respected figure to go through the whole thing.”

Few MEPs are prepared to discuss openly how the gravy train works, citing the vilification of one Tory member who cheerfully recounted how he quite legitimately filled his boots at public expense.

Robert Goodwill was an MEP for Yorkshire and the Humber when he disclosed the widely used air ticket scam. He would buy flights to Brussels for £250 and claim the allowance for a full-priced ticket of £500.

“I can pocket the difference and, as a capitalist, also as a British Conservative, I see it as a challenge to buy cheap tickets and make some profit on the system,” he said in 2000. Reform was promised and finally, by 2009, actual tickets will be used for determining expenses.

European democracy is a hot ticket for many MEPs, especially those from humble backgrounds in former Iron Curtain countries, who are suddenly able to take advantage of generous medical insurance for themselves and their families, the European Parliament on-call chauffeur service for journeys about town worth up to €50 a week, and the priority boarding pass at Brussels airport. Then there are the consultancies and the invitations.

“Every British MEP will be invited to a royal garden party and dined at the finest restaurants,” one MEP’s assistant said yesterday. MEPs can look forward to a comfortable retirement. As well as a first pension based on the MP system, they can take out a second pension funded one third by themselves and two thirds from the public purse to the tune of about €2,000 a month.

Currently annual pay is the same as the national MP salary, giving €87,358 a year to British MEPs but only €9,276 to Bulgarian members. They cannot wait for next year, however, when a new flat rate of about €84,000 will be introduced.

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