Champagne all round chaps, as EU staff handed £3k+ a year pay rise

[-:Undertaker:-]

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/arti...es-ruling.html

Pay rises all round on EU gravy train: Extra £3,000 a year for MEPs after judges' ruling

Quids-in: unelected EU President (already paid more than Obama) will pocket a rise of almost £12,000 ontop of his £320,000-a year salary.

Euro-MPs were handed an extraordinary £3,000 pay rise yesterday after EU judges ruled in favour of an inflation-busting increase for tens of thousands of Brussels officials. In a controversial ruling, the European Court of Justice rejected a bid by national governments to cancel a 3.7 per cent wage rise for MEPs and EU bureaucrats. More than 46,000 officials will now receive the pay rise in full, backdated to July 2009. They will also be paid interest on the overdue sum.

The decision, which will directly benefit the judges who handed down the ruling, prompted outrage last night. Tory MP Douglas Carswell said: ‘Yet again we see self-serving Eurocrats handing large amounts of our money to other self-serving Eurocrats. ‘At a time when we face real austerity at home, there will be lots of folk who see this as yet another reason why we must leave the European Union.’ Stephen Booth, of the think-tank Open Europe, said: ‘This only goes to show how out of touch Brussels is from reality.

‘When pay cuts and job losses are the norm across national public sectors – and with Ireland and others on the verge of bankruptcy – EU officials seem to think it is a good time to sue national governments for even more money.’ Yesterday’s ruling followed a bid by national governments to veto last year’s pay award. In the meantime, officials were awarded just half their promised pay rise. Ministers from several EU states, including Britain, argued the rise was unjustifiable at a time when millions of ordinary workers were facing pay freezes and cuts. But the move was struck out by judges in Luxembourg yesterday.

Although EU rules allow for pay adjustments in cases of ‘sudden and serious deterioration in the economic and social situation’, judges ruled that this did not apply. European Court judges stand to gain a pay increase of almost £8,000 as a result of the 3.7 per cent rise, taking their salary to almost £220,000. MEPs will see their salaries rise from £81,401 to £84,412. They already earn significantly more than a Westminster MP’s salary of £65,738 and also qualify for lavish expenses and pensions. EU president Herman Van Rompuy will pocket a rise of almost £12,000 on his £320,000 salary, which is already twice that paid to David Cameron. Labour quango queen Baroness Ashton – controversially appointed as the EU’s first foreign minister last year – will see her pay rocket by more than £11,000 to almost £325,000. Most of the officials affected already benefit from a special European level of income tax which starts at just 8 per cent – less than half the basic rate in the UK.

It is just amazing really how this goes on and how we allow it to go on, we should all be angry as it is as this - but with the Irish crisis on at the moment, they have a right to be especially angry. These people [the politicians] don't even pay the same tax rates as everyone else as it is (see video above).

Thoughts?

[GommeInc]

They should all be suffering a pay-decrease, seeing as they haven't done anything worthwhile with themselves and their European countries. Herman's salary should be cut down to at least a third of what he is getting, no-one needs that money to be a face.

[Eoin247]

I for one cannot believe this. At a time of severe economic problems in the EU (especially here in Ireland), they should be taking pay decreases rather than increases.

332,000 for the presidents salary! This is absolutely ridiculous especially during times like this.

I was doing a team debate last night regarding irelands situation in the EU, even though i'm stil pro EU things like this pay increase really show that there needs to be changes in how the EU operates.