Bursting Brussels’ Bubble
Civitas, 9 February 2011
EU Budget Commissioner, Janusz Lewandowski, has called on the EU institutions and numerous specialist agencies to limit next year’s growth in internal expenses to less than 1%. It is self-evident that these offices must limit their budgets, but Mr Lewandowski’s letter fails to take the more drastic measures – such as scrapping some agencies altogether – which are needed to achieve real reform.
In a lackluster attempt to encourage some show of solidarity with the European people, many of whom have been badly affected by the recent economic crisis, Mr Lewandowski has “dropped a heavy hint” that EU institutions should not “follow the business as usual line” when they submit their estimates for the 2012 budget. “The EU institutions must send out a message”, says the Commissioner’s spokesperson, Patrizio Fiorilli, “that they do not live in a bubble”.
However, it seems clear that merely ‘sending out a message’ is simply not good enough. By far the largest drain on funding is the £200 million monthly decamp from Brussels to Strasbourg, although there seems no intention of moving to plug this financial black hole (this would need to be agreed by all member states and, although several member states, including the UK, are firmly in favour, France is unlikely to ever consent). Similarly, according to staff at the European Council, the Brussels secretariat will largely escape the proposed cuts. And, despite the Liberal Group in the European Parliament calling for minor EU Committees, such as the Committee of Regions, to be shut down completely, it seems their campaign has made no impact on the Budget Commissioner.
MEPs are expected to respond to Mr Lewandowski with cries that meeting the 1% ceiling is impossible due to the need to recruit additional staff in compliance with duties arising under the Lisbon Treaty. They are unlikely to receive widespread sympathy beyond their own ranks. Last year, MEPs voted for a backdated pay rise and more wide-ranging expenses. In addition to inflating their salary for 2011 to over £80,000, since December, each MEP can claim expenses worth £3,096 with no proof of what the money has been spent on. So not showing a great deal of solidarity with the average worker, it seems, who in Britain saw their salary rise on average by just 0.3% last year.
MEPs now earn £15,000 a year more than their counterparts in Westminster, and late last year it was revealed that Britain’s MEPs alone lightened the public purse by £26 million per year – a figure set to rise under their newly chosen regime. Yet, in light of these hefty figures, a Sunday Telegraph league table exposing the ‘value for money’ provided by MEPs produces some embarrassing results. According to the table, MEPs racked up office expenses of £2.5 million, as well as £2.1 million in travel expenses and £2 million in subsistence allowance.
To make any real change, more thorough scrutiny is imperative. And given recent revelations, Mr Lewandowski would do well to heed the Liberals’ call to do away with some of the small, expensive EU agencies: a delegation of MEPs have been invited to Montevideo, Uruguay, by the EuroLat Assembly, a body established to strengthen links between the European and Latin American Parliamentarians. Up to 75 MEPs are set to attend this three day jaunt in May, which could cost taxpayers £1.2 million. Each MEP will be granted a personal travel budget of £2,625, to fund their business class flights and hotels. Decrying the plan as an “outrageous” waste of taxpayers’ money, UKIP leader Nigel Farage, has fumed: “Just what good is a trip to Montevideo doing for the average British citizen? Absolutely none. If MEPs want to learn a bit of tango, they can do it in Brussels.”