The contribution from cash-strapped British taxpayers to retired
EU officials will be £135 million at a time when many retired Britons in both the public and private sectors face cuts to their pension schemes. A British diplomat said: "At a time when governments across Europe have taken significant actions to reduce the costs of their public sector, including freezing or even cutting civil service staff salaries, and making commitments to undertake fundamental reviews of staff pension schemes, pay and pensions in EU institutions must reflect the very difficult decisions which are being made right across Europe."
Information requests have established that spending in 2010 on pensions for Brussels officials will be €1,214,092,000 (£999,250,211), with a British contribution of £135,898,028, as part of Britain's annual EU membership fees. The average annual pension pocketed by the 17,471 retired eurocrats benefiting from the scheme is £57,194, but the highest ranking officials can expect pensions of over £102,000. In contrast, over three-fifths of single pensioner households in Britain have a total pension income of less than £10,000 - a sixth of average amount earned in retirement by EU officials.
According to the last figures available, the mean annual private pension income for single British men is £6,812 and for single women £5,519. Mean annual income from state pensions and related benefits is £6,911 for single men and £6,700 for single women. The average retirement age for EU officials was 60, by 2009 figures, falling to 58 for lower secretarial grades. In Britain, the government is raising the retirement age from 65 to 66 by 2016. A policy paper published by the European Commission later last week suggested even later retirement ages - up to 70 years old - for ordinary workers under plans to link the state pension to life expectancy.
Nigel Farage, MEP, Ukip's European leader, said: "The rank hypocrisy of these Euro officials is endless. They're demanding others work longer while they retire at 60. Commission officials obviously view ordinary Europeans according to Orwell's Animal Farm dictum: 'All animals are equal but some animals are more equal than others'."
A European Commission spokesman defended the EU pension scheme, which was reformed five years ago, to increase the retirement age from 60 to 63. "In addition, the monthly pension contribution to be paid by each official was raised from 9.25 per cent of the monthly basic salary to 11.3 per cent today, higher than in all national civil services," he said. EU pension will pushed further into the public spotlight later this year when European courts rule on legal action by MEPs to block cost-cutting measures designed to reduce the need for a taxpayer bail-out of their controversial second pension scheme. Last year the fund had a shortfall of £106 million.
