Why Is EU Diplomatic Corps So Costly?
Thursday, 26 August 2010 By Andrey Kovatchev, member of the European Parliament from Bulgarias ruling party GERB, chairman of the Bulgarian delegation in the European Peoples’ Party (EPP) group* It emerged these days that more than 100 diplomats, who will be working in the newly set European diplomatic service, headed by British baroness Catherine Ashton, will earn more than EUR 165.000 per year, while the bill for employing 80 new officials in the start up phase of the body will be EUR 9.5 M. When it comes to European bureaucrats pay, it is only natural that we, as citizens and tax-payers, should be on the alert so that the EU budget is being spent in the most efficient way and funds misuse, which inevitably undermines the idea of united Europe, is ruled out. We should not forget however that democracy costs money, but not as much as dictatorship or war. When asked why we need the European Union, Jean-Claude Juncker, Luxembourg’s prime minister, once said one had to go to Verdun and s
