Paul van Buitenen, the Dutch member of the European parliament elected on a ‘more transparency’ ticket, has the worst attendance record of all the 28 Dutch MEPs, news agency ANP reports.

Van Buitenen has only attended 16 of the 39 main parliamentary sessions. ChristenUnie MEP Hans Blokland has the best attendance record – he has been at all 39.
A spokesman for Van Buitenen said he felt his research into fraud was more important than attending meetings. Van Buitenen is currently looking into events at the EU anti-fraud institute OLAF.
Before being elected to Brussels, Van Buitenen was a senior EU civil servant. His investigation into corruption led to the fall of the European Commission in 1999.