MEPs Demand End to Benefits for Top EU Officials

The European Parliament's budgetary control committee has criticized The European Court of Auditors and the European Court of Justice for using official cars for private use, although this practice is not illegal. The members of the Court of Justice and the Court of Auditors can use official cars for private ends up to a ceiling of respectively 30,000 and 40,000 kilometres per year. But parliamentarians called on both institutions to amend their rules by July to require their members to bear the costs themselves when they use official cars for private use. MEPs also castigated the two institutions for giving themselves the possibility of benefiting from considerable increases in salaries by having them transferred in part to other EU states, and thereby taking advantage of ‘weightings’ in the process. This measure allows a salary adjustment according to the standard of living of the different EU states. The members of the Court of Justice and the Court of Auditors earn around the same salary as European Commissioners, which is €18,000 ($22,200) a month. (EUobserver.com)