As the rest of us feel the cold winds of the worst economic crisis in living memory, the cosy, bubble-wrapped existence of the eurocrat continues blissfully unaltered.
The EU is not , as far I know, planning any redundancies or wage freezes, so life trundles on here for the salaried European civil servants.
Staff in the European Parliament might get a new “aquagym and chill out rooms” worth over £8 million – see here.
But I have been really charmed by this little item in En Direct, the European Commission’s weekly internal newsletter.
The announcements section has a treat in store for officials working, on the financial crisis amongst other things, in the European Commission’s Beaulieu buildings.
“In the context of the Well Being policy, DG ADMIN has placed in the Beaulieu area a digital piano. To inaugurate the piano, from 16th to 20th February, live music in BU29 Cafeteria between 13h and 1430h performed by colleagues who are amateur musicians.”
Just the mere idea of all those DG ECFIN, and other, officials being gathered around the old Joanna for a good sing song and knees up makes the heart glow.
#1 by Thomas Winzen on February 22, 2009 - 3:09 pm
True, the symbolism in the incidences you cite might be less than fortunate. On the other hand, it seems that your comments on the salaries of EU civil servants are not quite warranted. If anything, your critique should have mentioned public officials in national (regional, local) governments as well. On the whole the salaries of civil servants will not be much affected by the crisis in the short-term. One can certainly discuss whether this is good or bad but, to be sure, this discussion cannot treat the EU in isolation. Doing so makes it an easy target, perhaps, but it does not serve the quality of criticism.
#2 by Florian on February 23, 2009 - 5:53 pm
I agree that some Eurocrats splurge in luxury when most Europeans take the hit from the depression. But I also see the purpose of this “splurge”: EU institutions are in direct competition with businesses over attracting the best talented people.
From what I’ve seen so far, my guts tell me that the EU failed and that we’re stuck with a bunch of unqualified people at EU steering wheel… This is depressing indeed
#3 by Luis on February 24, 2009 - 10:51 am
Come on, Bruno, don’t be so bitter…it seems to me that you failed several competition exams to become a eurocrat…there are other plenty nice things in life…so look for a brighter future and don’t think about your past failings…
#4 by Patrick on February 25, 2009 - 9:16 pm
Interesting that the only source given for the “gym story” is taken from the newspaper which employs the writer. Having done some research myself, what this story amounts to is a 2006 proposal to renovate an existing gym at a cost of €4.1m.
http://www.theparliament.com/latestnews/news-article/newsarticle/eu-parliament-hits-back-over-possible-plans-to-extend-meps-gym/
When making cheap shots about EU “eurocrats”, it’s worth noting that in number they amount to not even 6% of the total number of British civil servants. What’s more not even the Telegraph can publish stories about six-figure payoffs for eurocrats (as is the case with senior UK civil servants), as it simply does not happen.
And EU officials singing along in their lunch hours costs far less to the taxpayer than the hospitality enjoyed by Whitehall mandarins at Wimbledon, the Chelsea Flower Show and top football matches.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2009/feb/13/whitehall
#5 by Marcel on March 10, 2009 - 12:32 pm
@Patrick
the EU has such a degree of control over ‘national’ policies that effectively many of the ‘national’ civil servants are under EU control. This is part of the EU iceberg. What you see in Brussels is what is above the waterline, but the EU’s real control is under the waterline. Legislative primacy for the unelected antidemocratic EU politburo (commission) means that they and not the national parliaments effectively control many national policies too. That these civil servants are not on the EU payroll is irrelevant.
#6 by Patrick on March 10, 2009 - 6:10 pm
@ Marcel – the EU is made up of Member States which decide its policy upon the basis of precise objectives set out by the Treaty of Rome. There is no “iceberg” as is reflected by the relatively small size of the Community institutions (less than 1% of the budget). There is no “politburo”, the Commissioners are nominated by democratically elected governments and vetted by elected MEPs.
The Commission doesn’t have “legislative primacy” (from which I assume you mean the power to make legislation), it formulates legislative proposals much like the UK Civil Service.
#7 by Spaak on March 11, 2009 - 9:52 am
We are talking about a gym where costs have to be depreciated in about twenty years. A raise in busfares of a maximum of 25 euro’s totalling (when assuming all Commission officials are travelling by public transport) a mere 700.000 € (or less than 0,05% of total budget). The story about the piano reminds me of an old dutch television commercial of a well-known credit card company. A dad takes his little son to the soccer match. The tickets, a new kit and matchday scarf and the drinks during the interval all carry price tags. The looks in his eyes when his favourite players enter the pitch is priceless. Well the piano can cost up to 5.000 €, but exactly what is priceless?
I’m from Holland and then they say the Dutch are cheap!