Austerity? Not in Euland!

Some facts from Bruno Waterfield, Daily Telegraph:

"The latest increase means that the office staffing allowance for every single one of the European Parliament's 736 MEPs will rise to almost £220,000 a year, making a total annual bill for the taxpayer of £160 million."

"Last December, under pressure from angry EU governments, led by Britain with support for Germany and France, the parliament shelved any increases in 2011 to the staffing allowances. But following an internal "evaluation", carried out by MEPs themselves, of whether the money was needed, the parliament's budget committee on Thursday overturned the expenses freeze."

 "As well as staff allowances, MEPs will be able to earn up to £90,876 in "daily subsistence" and "general expenditure" expenses without having to provide any receipts or proof of expenditure."

Assuming that Britain's MEPs (73) claim this additional amount of £15,336 (Roger Helmer has publicly stated on Twitter that he will not be so doing) then £15,336 x 72 equals £1,104,192.

On the same basis were Britains MEPs to claim the maximum £90,876 daily allowance, for which no receipts are required, then £90,876 x 72 equals £6,543,072.

That is a potential annual bill of £7,647,264 paid for by UK taxpayers!

From the Independent of 30th October 2010 we read:

"David Cameron yesterday claimed to have achieved a "spectacular success" over European spending, despite accepting that Britain would have to hand over £430m more to Brussels next year.

Twelve other countries, including Germany and France, backed his demand to limit any increase in the European Union budget to 2.9 per cent. The European Parliament and the European Commission want a rise of 6 per cent. Mr Cameron announced he had also won support from other European leaders for future EU spending to be linked to the cuts being made by member states.

Last week the Prime Minister said he wanted the EU budget for 2011 to be frozen or even cut. But yesterday he argued that pegging the rise to 2.9 per cent "made a real difference" and that the 6 per cent plan was now "dead"."

On 19th December 2010, we learned, again from Bruno Waterfield, that:

"In a rare display of unity, the Prime Minister, German Chancellor and French President, along with Dutch and Finnish leaders, vowed in a joint letter published on Saturday that action taken to reduce EU spending increases next year - already cut from a six per cent rise to 2.9 per cent - must be "stepped up progressively" until the budget stops growing altogether by 2014."

Some "spectacular success" - eh, iDave?