Members of the European parliament are due to contest elections in the spring

European Union judges have spared MEPs from scrutiny by backing the European Parliament’s refusal to disclose details of politicians’ expenses.

The European Court of Justice supported the “refusal to grant access to documents relating to subsistence allowances, travel expenses and parliamentary assistance allowances”. It will prevent MEPs, who face elections in the spring, from being required to account for annual allowances.

EU judges ruled that it would be a breach of the privacy of individual MEPs if they had to provide the public with details of expenses, which require constituency office addresses, invoices and receipts.

“All the documents requested contain information concerning identified natural persons, namely MEPs,” a court statement said. “The mere fact that those personal data are closely linked to public data on