Wednesday, January 5, 2011

Nothing like a healthily growing backlash

Bruno Waterfield, the Telegraph's hack in Brussels, tells us that there is a growing backlash against perks for EU officials. Fury, he informs us, is spreading. Well, good for fury, say I. And, indeed, for backlash. Maybe I shall call my next two cats Fury and Backlash. I have no doubt they will grow and spread all over the house. But let's be practical. Exactly, what are those terrible twins, Fury and Backlash going to do? Here are a few indications:
Despite being paid six figure salaries, 1,962 of EU's most senior civil servants have been allowed to join a "flexitime" scheme, originally meant for lower paid secretarial staff, that gives an extra 24 days off work every year for those that put in an extra 45 minutes a day in the office.

The perk comes on top of annual holidays of 24 days as well as seven days off for public holidays, and in 2010, 11 "non-working" days out of the office when the Brussels institutions are closed in summer and at Christmas.
The allowances mean that last year many EU staff were entitle to 66 days or 13 weeks or a quarter of the year off work.

Inge Grassler, the German Christian Democrat MEP who uncovered the time off perk, has urged that the "flexitime" is tightened up to exclude senior EU officials, whose working hours are not measured by the clock.

"This information must mean the death of the myth of the hard-working Commission official," she said.

"I have no sympathy for time off in leadership roles. Those who earn six figures must sometimes be willing to work more than 37.5 hours – as is customary in industry."
Stephen Booth, of the Open Europe pressure group, said: "If the top ranks of the EU's civil service can take this much time off it raises interesting questions about how much work they're actually doing."
And if that was not frightening enough:
On Tuesday, Bavaria's Christian Democrats, key allies of Chancellor Merkel, declared that a "radical overhaul" of EU pay and privileges was long overdue.

Markus Ferber, a senior German MEP, said: "The privileges of EU officials must be abolished as quickly as possible."
Besides, as Mr Waterfield reminds us, one must not forget that David Cameron has "wooed" Nicolas Sarkozy and Angela Merkel into accepting the notion of freezing future Brussels budgets. Oh no! Not the great budget freeze! Just look how successful it was this time round.

6 comments:

  1. More deckchair shuffling on offer from people like Markus Ferber who believe in BIG STATE but don't leike being left out of BIG STATE's largesse.
    The only answer is to walk away from the EU. Don't even tell the buggers just get up and walk out right in the middle of a meeting.

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  2. Unfortunately we would then have to come back and renegotiate every single trade agreement, educational agreement, and all the agreements that existed before the EU but has been grabbed by it with out support.

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  3. You what? 45 minutes extra each day and they get 24 DAYS extra leave?

    I make it that 45 mins a day, five days a week, 48 weeks a year (let's be generous) equates to just 7.5 extra days' work.

    Someone is being shafted and I think I know who it is.

    otoh, given the "work" that these people do, it would actually be much better for everyone if we paid them their salaries and just told them to stay home doing nothing.

    After a while, we could stop paying the salaries. Result!

    ReplyDelete
  4. You what? 45 minutes extra each day and they get 24 DAYS extra leave?

    I make it that 45 mins a day, five days a week, 48 weeks a year (let's be generous) equates to just 7.5 extra days' work.

    Someone is being shafted and I think I know who it is.

    otoh, given the "work" that these people do, it would actually be much better for everyone if we paid them their salaries and just told them to stay home doing nothing.

    After a while, we could stop paying the salaries. Result!

    ReplyDelete
  5. You what? 45 minutes extra each day and they get 24 DAYS extra leave?

    I make it that 45 mins a day, five days a week, 48 weeks a year (let's be generous) equates to just 7.5 extra days' work.

    Someone is being shafted and I think I know who it is.

    otoh, given the "work" that these people do, it would actually be much better for everyone if we paid them their salaries and just told them to stay home doing nothing.

    After a while, we could stop paying the salaries. Result!

    ReplyDelete
  6. It's an idea, Peter. We need to finesse it but I think it might work. :)

    ReplyDelete