Commission former chief accountant expects the worst but is not without hope

The European Commission’s former chief accountant Marta Andreasen says she would “certainly” take her old job back if offered but admitted that the prospect was “unrealistic” as her disciplinary proceedings wind towards an imminent conclusion. Ms Andreasen was suspended two years ago after airing criticisms of the Commission’s accounting practices. A disciplinary board is currently considering her case and Ms Andreasen says that she is braced for it to recommend her dismissal before the current Prodi Commission leaves office on October 31. However his administration is not bound to follow the board’s recommendations and the matter could be passed to the incoming Barroso team. “The system continues to be open to fraud. They haven’t reformed it at all and a new commission might find out that what I said was true and continues to be true,” Andreason told Fraud Intelligence . It would then be “realistic that they would re-instate me in another job where I could make a positive contribution to the reform process.”