14 million Euros to spend a few pennies

That fount of all rectitude, that home of the parsimonius, the Eurpopean Parliament has agreed to spend another 16 million euros on improving office space in the Strasbourg building.

The extra space would allow the building of new offices for MEPs' assistants, many of whom currently share office space with MEPs when they are in Strasbourg, and provision of new communal toilets.

No seriously, we cannot have MEP's assisatnts sharig the same office as their boss, that just wouldn't do. According to the European Voice it appears the money will also be used to knock down some of the intergral MEP loo spaces and build communal loos.

This will be good in that paradise of Presidents I suppose to discover who indeed is the biggest swinging Dick in town. But do we really need to spend another great wad of cash, on loos?

Gad its tough working in the European Parliament

Really it is, much worse than working elsewhere, I wonder why we do it.

What? You don't believe me. Well the staff Committee of the European Parliament has produced a survey of staff attitudes, and I can tell you all is not well in the Towers of Babel. Called the Well-Being at Work survey it makes salutary reading for those who do not have to suffer the indignity of being a Eurocrat.

The survey questionnaire was sent via email to 7900 colleagues: 4722 permanent staff members, 1639 temporary and contract agents, 1539 parliamentary assistants.

And there was an impressive 19,93% response rate. But we work hard, Oh so hard,

Overtime
The survey revealed that recourse to overtime is a quite everyday practice in order to meet work commitments. Over the last 12 months, with various frequency, 68,83% of concerned colleagues worked during free time in order to meet work demands; 37,61% more than 10 hours a day, 43,64% outside the standard work timetable (evening, week-end).

I mean trying to fit all that governance of Europe stuff into the statuary 37.5 hrs a week is tough. And almost 40% had, at least once, worked a 10 hour day. Call a freaking ambulance.

Around 50% of respondents consider always or often their work to be stressful (48,75%); to feel exhausted after work (53,05%) and too tired (53,17%). This has inevitably an impact on private life, 42,2% find that the job always or often prevents them from giving time to partner or family.

It is one of those permanent annoyances of life that having a job means that you cannot be with your family. Deal with it.

Now look at this bit. It appears that not only is working for the European Parliament stressful, bad for your family and might make you miss lunch once in a while, we are also the victims of an extraodinary amount of workplace grimness,

Concerning harassment, revealing results can be identified by comparing the data obtained regarding the EP Secretariat and those given by Eurofound for 27 EU Member States in its Fifth European Working Conditions Survey. 15,64% of respondents in the EP had experienced verbal abuse at work against 10,8% reported by the Eurofound as average level in 27 Members States; 16,18% of colleagues who replied considered themselves to be a victim of threats and humiliating behaviour against 5.0% in EU27; 16,72% of the EP respondents declared having experienced psychological harassment against an average of 4,1% in the EU27.

If you work in the European Parliament you are subject to more abuse, harrasment and threats than elsewhere. I tell you it is awful, here we are trying to create a Europe of peace, harmony and compulsory kittens and this is how we treat each other. It's a disgrace that these things can happen.

So why are we so selfless? Why do we suffer al these dreadful slings and arrows. Well maybe it is to do with this, the month pay table (In Euros),

Not forgetting these extras

Family allowances, which, depending on your family situation, consist of:

the household allowance (2% of salary + EUR 170.52);
the dependent child allowance (EUR 372.61);
the pre-school allowance (EUR 91.02);
reimbursement of educational expenses up to a limit of EUR 252.81, double in certain cases.

Other allowances
The expatriation allowance (16%) or foreign residence allowance (4%); these percentages apply to the basic salary;
The secretarial allowance: awarded on a personal basis to beneficiaries before 1 May 2004 (C4/C5: EUR 131.84 – C3/C1: EUR 202.14).
Protection of secretarial work in case of promotion to grade AST 7: compensatory allowance(link externaltype doc)

So now you know. You mustn't mock I think we deserve sympathy and care. (Oh and those nice EU plates on our VAT free cars).

Oh My Freaking Cripes. Sometimes I hang my head in horror

What is this?

No wiser, how about this?


No really, we need Europe to stop us singing all alone, with the wrong words and out of tune.

Somebody wake me up when the adults have come back. How much is this extravaganza costing us?

You can even vote for your favourite Kareoke track.

Guys, Guys, there is a financial crisis that is swamping your precious political experiment and you want us to vote on our favourite Kareoke tracks?

For Pete's sake, get serious.

Eurocrats subsidised morality

Just a few days ago I was sounding off about the attempt by Barroso to portray EU civil servants as the victims of monstrous attacks in the press,

"The European civil service is often attacked for its apparent 'privileges' when this is not the case and I am always defending this."

Saying he "cannot accept populism against the European civil service" he paid tribute to EU civil servants, describing them as a "great asset to Europe"

So imagine my surprise when I looked at the internal newsletter of the parliament to discover this,

The European Parliament is dedicated to reducing its carbon footprint and is seeking, as part of its Mobility Plan, to encourage its staff to use public transport.
In the case of European Parliament staff members based in Brussels, this measure will be carried out by means of a ‘third-party payment system’ contract signed by Parliament and the Société des Transports Intercommunaux de Bruxelles (STIB), under which Parliament will contribute 50% of the cost of individual season tickets taken out by its staff members.

I checked on STIB that will be 203 GBP per head. Now with an estimate of 5000 staff based in Brussels, that is at or near a million quid.

And why is that the Parliament is spending your money this way? Because it wants to feel morally superior to those that pay it.

Put it this way, when I worked in Brussels, I walked, or took public transport. And you know what I paid for it out of my wages. Weird that, just like the poor benighted Belgian taxpayer.

How dare the EU institutions lecture me about "No Car Day" or boast about turning their lights out at 6 pm on a Friday when everybody has left for their (heavily subsidised) trips home.

Who the hell do they think they are, taking taxpayers money, and coming all holier than thou? Mr Barroso, do you think that this public subsidy of European civil servants counts as privilege? If not what would you call it?