Acre insisted that both events “contributed to EU awareness and focused on topics clearly pertinent to EU integration and EU policies”. The IFT lists the Miami and Kampala events on the events page of its website, without mentioning the events received €340,000 EU funds. Under EU law, EU funds cannot be used to finance national campaigns. A spokesman for British Conservative MEPs in Brussels declined to comment, referring questions to the Conservative Campaign Headquarters (CCHQ) in London, which did not respond. The European parliament’s top leaders rejected the group’s defence in a closed-door meeting on Monday night.

Source: The Guardian December 13, 2018 15:32 UTC