Court battles intensifies on MEPs' 'private' expenses

Every month, each MEP at the European parliament receives large amounts of public money to spend on allowances, travel costs, and staff.

On Thursday (19 October), the top EU court will hold a hearing on whether the public has the right to know exactly how such tax-payer money is spent. A verdict is not expected this year.

But when a group of journalists from around Europe in 2015 asked to scrutinise MEPs' monthly invoices, the parliament refused, citing data protection rules, "exc...