May 19, 2014. Copyright 2014, Graphic News. All rights reserved

European ParliamentÕs extravagant waste

LONDON, May 19, Graphic News: The European Parliament is one of the most expensive in the world. At Û1.75 billion ($2.5 billion) a year, the Parliament costs more than the German, British and French national parliaments put together. Calculated another way, the annual cost of of the 751 MEPs is Û2.3 million each -- six times the cost of a British Member of Parliament.

Since the last elections in 2009 the running cost has gone up by 22%, while nearly all member states have implemented austerity measures to reduce debt and promote growth. If, as many expect, turnout of the EUÕs 380 million voters in this weekÕs ballot falls below the 43% level of 2009, that will further erode the ParliamentÕs credibility.

New Direction Ñ The Foundation for European Reform, a Brussels-based think tank, believes the European ParliamentÕs budget can be reduced by 24% annually to save nearly half a billion euros. New DirectionÕs Geoffrey Van Orden says the driving force in cost increases has been the massive inflation of the ParliamentÕs bureaucracy. Since the enlargement in 2004 the number of staff has grown from 3,946 to 6,817, while there are only four more MEPs.

Huge savings would be made by scrapping the monthly Òtravelling circusÓ between Brussels and France to hold the four-day plenary sessions in the ParliamentÕs second seat in Strasbourg. The building is empty for 317 days of the year -- holding all plenary sessions in Brussels would save at least Û200 million a year.

At least Û100 million is spent each year translating documents into 23 official languages. NATO, for example has 28 member countries but just two working languages, English and French -- the United Nations has 193 member states and six working languages.

Much of the anger about European Parliament waste has focused on the dubious practices of MEPs and their Û4,200 per month expenses -- no receipts need be produced -- on top of their Û93,685 a year salaries.

Despite the exorbitant Û220,450 a year pay grade for the parliamentÕs top officials, they have failed to prevent massive financial abuses within the organisation. According to a Transparency International report on EU-wide corruption, requests for interviews with Parliament officials in July 2013 were followed by a seven-month silence. The ParliamentÕs bureau eventually issued a response saying that it would not participate because the Parliament had adequate internal resources to monitor corruption. 
/ENDS