Eighteen 'ghost' MEPs to board the EU gravy train next month - even though they may not start work for FOUR YEARS

Source: Daily Telegraph
By Michael Lea
24th May 2009

Eighteen 'ghost' MEPs will board the EU gravy train after European elections next month even though they may not start work for up to four years.

They will have no powers but will be entitled to £76,000 annual salaries, plus tax-free allowances of £255 for every day of their time in limbo in Brussels.

The group from 12 countries, including one from Britain, can also claim back business class travel and staff and office allowances worth £210,000.

Amid confusion over when and how they will take up their seats, the European Parliament has decided to give the MEPs 'observer' status from next year.

The total cost to taxpayers is likely to be in the region of £24million.

The scandal, which comes about as a result of Ireland's rejection of the Lisbon Treaty, was condemned as a farce tonight.

Under the terms of the Treaty, a rewritten version of the EU Constitution rejected by voters in France and Holland in 2005, the number of MEPs increases from 736 to 754.

Despite the document remaining unsigned, the additional members will be chosen in elections on June 4, including for the UK's West Midlands region.

Ireland, which voted 'no' in 2008, will hold a second referendum in a bid to get the 'right answer' this autumn.

Although it is hoped that the Treaty would then come into force from January 2010 an additional legal protocol, allowing the 'observer' MEPs to take on their full duties, could take at least another two years and possibly four.

MEP Nigel Farage, leader of the UK Independence Party, said: 'Welcome to virtual politics, this has to be the political expenses scandal to end all expenses scandals.

'The perfect politician for today's elite, one that takes wages and does no work at all.'

Timothy Kirkhope, leader of the Conservatives in the European Parliament, said. 'If the EU is to have democratic legitimacy, we should respect the decision of the Irish.'

Stephen Booth, of anti-Brussels think tank Open Europe, said: 'It is scandalous that the European Parliament could even consider paying MEPs who cannot legally do their job.

'Taxpayers are forking out enough on MEPs as it is – now we find out we’re paying money for nothing.

'These "phantom" MEPs will only be able to take office if the Lisbon Treaty comes into force – electing them, let alone paying for them, when the Treaty is not even in force shows complete disregard for Ireland's upcoming referendum.'

Matthew Elliott, of the TaxPayers' Alliance, said: 'People across the EU are suffering in the recession and are looking to their political masters to give them value for money.

'Electing 18 MEPs with no powers to jump aboard the Brussels gravy train is certain to infuriate them.'

Spain has argued that there would be an 'imbalance' between the EU institutions if the 18 MEPs could not take their seats until the end of the new Parliament in 2014 due to Ireland's rejection of the Lisbon Treaty.

It is intending to put forward a motion to enable them to take their seats as soon as the Lisbon Treaty enters into force.

But any device would have to be endorsed by all 27 member states.

Andrew Duff, LibDem leader in Brussels, warned that the slow process of ratification means the MEPs could remain in limbo for years.

'From January 2010, a legal instrument is going to have to be ratified in each national Parliament. We know that can take a long time,' he said.

But Richard Corbett, the Labour MEP who champions the Lisbon Treaty throughout Europe, defended the arrangement to make the MEPs 'observers'.

'This is straightforward and there is no need to make a fuss,' he said. 'They can do all the work of an MEP except taking part in votes. This is a way of making a smooth transition and has been done before.'