Juncker’s EU fatcats blow £450,000 on their junkets
JEAN-Claude Juncker and his fellow EU bureaucrats spent £450,000 on expenses in just two months, figures have revealed.
Despite the EU having a budget black hole of at least £20billion, the European Commission president splurged £24,500 on a private jet trip to Rome.
The Commission insists the flight was shared with nine people, so the actual cost was £2,650 per person.
Mr Juncker, who earns more than £275,000 a year, also claimed a £44 half-day allowance to meet former European Parliament president Martin Schulz.
According to figures published for the first two months of 2016, 28 EU commissioners claimed for bills covering 261 trips totalling £450,000.
Outrageous
Former Ukip leader Nigel Farage, who sits as an MEP, described the payouts as “outrageous”. He said: “Juncker spending £24,000 on a private jet at taxpayers’ expense is clearly over the top, especially when many normal flights are available.
“I suppose these junket expenses are all part of the makebelieve ‘Brexit bill’ which these commissioners have plucked out of thin air and are trying to extort from our government.”
Tory MEP David Campbell Bannerman said the excessive spending shows why the EU is panicking about losing its second biggest contributor when Britain leaves.
He said: “There is a black hole of at least £20billion and really the EU has got to learn to cut its cloth instead of demanding money from Britain.” Mr Juncker was not the only big claimer, with EU foreign affairs chief Federica Mogherini spending just under £68,000 on a visit to Baku, Azerbaijan.
Meanwhile, British EU commissioner Jonathan Hill, who quit following David Cameron’s resignation in the wake of his EU referendum defeats, also racked up expenses.
He spent £380 on food and drinks in Davos, Switzerland, while mingling with leaders and financiers at the World Economic Forum.
His flights to the annual meeting with “elite” business and political figures cost more than £2,000. He also spent more than £900 on luxury hotels for the twoday trip. Humanitarian aid commissioner Christos Stylianides splashed out £10,000 for a trip to Somalia and Turkey.
Just one night in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia cost £517.
The expenses were only revealed after a three-year Freedom of Information battle on the spending of taxpayers’ money by the commission.
The EU is demanding up to £78billion from Britain in a Brexit divorce payment as it tries to plug the hole in its finances caused by wasteful spending.
Senior Tory backbench MP Peter Bone said: “We have known for a long time that the EU is wasteful and thinks it doesn’t need to answer for anybody. This shows why we need to get out as quickly as possible and stop funding this extravagant lifestyle for the European Commission.
“They really have a nerve to ask us for more money after we have given them a net £200billion over the years.
“Do they want us to keep paying for their luxury trips and private jets? The other countries may be happy to do so but Britain has had enough.”