EU fraud clampdown suggested

Leading European Union figures should declare second jobs, investments, property and hospitality received, according to EU anti-fraud commissioner Siim Kallas.

He said he would like the EU's top judges, auditors as well as MEPs and commissioners to list financial interests publicly in the latest stage of a clean-up aimed at expunging the memory of the scandals that led to the downfall of the Jacques Santer commission in 1999.

"Personal integrity is a big issue," he told the Financial Timesin an interview. "Rules exist in member states but there is nothing at a European level. All public institutions should have [a code of conduct] and somebody must monitor it."

European commissioners must declare financial interests and all gifts over €150 and place them on the commission's website. Members of the European parliament need only complete forms if they are office holders such as committee chairman.

Perhaps to assuage concern among MEPs, he said he was less interested in gifts and hospitality and more concerned with "share ownership, property and things of a long-term economic interest".

Mr Kallas has commissioned research into how national governments handle such matters.