The European Parliament is getting bigger – 18 new MEPs joining (thanks to the Lisbon Treaty), taking the total to 754.<\/p>\n
Cue the predictable outrage from the usual suspects about the “cost” of these new MEPs, rent-a-quote eurosceptic think tank Open Europe telling the eurosceptic Telegraph<\/a>:<\/p>\n “It’s strange that the EU sees it fit to go through a complicated process of treaty reform just to provide for more jobs in the European Parliament \u2013 at a time when virtually every country in Europe is cutting back… This says a lot about the EU’s priorities. If anything, the EU’s institutions should be slimmed down.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n To start, let’s ignore the fact that this wilfully ignores that the additional MEPs were agreed years back, before the credit crunch hit, and that EU decision-making takes so bloody long that agreeing to change this hard-fought (but minor) amendment would be a logistical nightmare that would cost far more than the \u00a328 million quoted as the cost over the next four years.<\/p>\n Instead, how about we look at the claim “If anything, the EU’s institutions should be slimmed down”<\/strong>. Why? Well, the implication is because they should cost less.<\/p>\n But, of course, the EU’s budget is a paltry \u20ac142.6 billion<\/a> for 2011 – a tiny, tiny fraction of the total UK budget<\/a> (about the same as the UK’s Department for Work and Pensions, in fact – and rather less than the UK government’s 2009 borrowing of \u00a3154.7 billion<\/a>).<\/p>\n Cutting the EU’s budget is about as effective as those headline-grabbing, but drop-in-the-ocean, pay cuts for ministers<\/a>. Cutting the Prime Minister’s salary by a few thousand a year when the budget deficit is running to the tens of billion is nothing but a PR ploy, and anyone with any sense knows it. The same goes for Open Europe’s knee-jerk calls for EU cutbacks. They’re a nonsense.<\/p>\n In fact, what anyone who really wants to see European governments save money *should*<\/strong> be doing is calling for *more*<\/strong> decision-making and legislating to be pooled at a European level.<\/p>\n Because if decisions are being taken at an EU level, this is because several EU member states want to do roughly the same thing. Therefore pretty much *every* decision taken at EU level is saving money<\/a>.<\/p>\n (Sorry for the absence of late, by the way – *immensely* busy with the day job…)<\/small><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The European Parliament is getting bigger – 18 new MEPs joining (thanks to the Lisbon Treaty), taking the total to 754. Cue the predictable outrage from the usual suspects about the “cost” of these new MEPs, rent-a-quote eurosceptic think tank … Continue reading