The gilded life of the MEP long ago made the terms 'European Parliament' and 'Gravy Train' synonymous.

Democracy does not come cheap in Europe, but the €1.3 billion annual cost of the Parliament (excluding salaries and first pensions which are paid by member states) is inflated by absurd travel allowances and generous second pension schemes for the 785 elected members.

It comes as little surprise to learn that an internal audit has discovered widespread malpractice in the parliamentary assistance allowance, the fund worth up to €185,952 per MEP used to pay staff.

Why? Because the kind of scrutiny demanded in the British parliament has not yet been brought in for MEPs by the group responsible for the system - the MEPs themselves.

British MEPs whisper that their Mediterranean colleagues are to blame for blocking real reform. But no-one really knows who is profiteering because of the opaque systems of audit typified by the revelation that the latest European Parliament report has been subject to greater secrecy than Tehran’s nuclear plans.

Not only have all the MEPs studied been anonymised in the report, but it was only made available on demand to members of the budget control committee, many of whom were simply unaware of its existence. Even now they can only see it at a secret location, one at a time and under supervision to make sure they do not make notes.

It amounts to a huge lost opportunity for the European Parliament to boast that it was cleaning up its act. After all, it has commendably got round to auditing MEPs’ expenses and there are suggestions today of reform, replacing three different systems of staff employment with one.

Incredibly, MEPs pay and perks have just undergone a lengthy reform process which failed to tackle the parliamentary assistance allowance.

Under the new system, they will all be paid the same salary of €84,000 a year rather than earning the same as a domestic MP as they do now. While this will enrich MEPs from eastern Europe, some of whom will be paid more than Cabinet ministers back home, it will mean a slight cut in pay for British MEPs. Italian MEPs complained so much about losing cash that their government will top up their European salary.

The reforms, due to take effect next year, also aim to put an end to extraordinary levels of abuse of travel allowances by MEPs. They are currently allowed to claim the cost of an open economy fare for all work-related travel while many simply book budget air tickets months in advance for the scheduled parliamentary sessions in Brussels and Strasbourg. Chris Davies estimates that an MEP can make an average of £10,000 a year tax free using this scam.

The worst thing that the European Parliament could now do is turn on Mr Davies for blowing the whistle.

Brussels has a long and ignoble history of blaming the messenger, including Marta Andreasen, the European Commission’s chief accountant who was forced from her job in 2005 for refusing to sign off accounts she described as shambolic and Paul van Buitenen, an assistant auditor who quit under extreme pressure after raising the alarm about corruption in 1999 which led to the resignation of the Santer Commission.

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