17/08/05 - Fat Cat Eurocrats Retire At 50!

FAT CAT EUROCRATS RETIRE AT 50

Taxpayers in Britain are funding a new Brussels gravy train which is allowing unelected Eurocrats to retire on massive pensions at 50 (Daily Express, p.2).

Conservatives

Hard-pressed taxpayers all over Europe will be appalled to find that they are paying through the nose for this Euro gravy train. This will only reinforce the view that European Union is being run for unelected bureaucrats who are increasingly out of touch with ordinary people.

No one has done more to expose cases of EU fraud and mismanagement than Conservative MEPs, who have highlighted the issues raised by a number of brave whistleblowers and pressed relentlessly for reform over recent years. Putting Britain first means ensuring British taxpayers money is not mismanaged and wasted.

Labour

• The German newspaper Bild has revealed that a new European statute is encouraging officials to retire on generous pensions so they can be replaced by bureaucrats from countries that have recently joined the EU. Officials older than 45 on 1 May 2004 and those who have been in office 20 years, can opt to take early retirement at 50. Those who retire at 50 will be able to leave on 65 per cent of their salaries up to 6,000 per month. Those who stay until 55 can retire on a full salary. At least 340 officials have taken advantage of these offers so far, costing the EU taxpayer 14 million.

• This is the latest fat cat controversy to hit officials in Brussels. A succession of scandals in the past decade has shown that profound and systemic weaknesses remain unchecked in the European Commissions financial and personnel management system. Every year, between five and eight per cent of the EUs 73 billion budget - more than 3.5 billion that hard-working people have paid in their taxes - goes missing through mismanagement and fraud.

• For the past nine years the European Court of Auditors has been unable to certify the EU accounts, principally because insufficient records have been kept to prove that the money was spent properly. The Vice-President in charge of reform until November 2004, Mr (now Lord) Neil Kinnock, must shoulder the blame. Because of his failure, cases of mismanagement and waste continue and whistleblowers are still not given a full hearing.