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The EU’s 170,000-Strong Army of Bureaucrats…….

The word “Byzantine” comes to mind when reviewing the report on the vast archipelago of EU bureaucrats at work for the “betterment of Europe“. Fjordman lets it be known that:

“The EU now has all the tools it needs in order to become a true, totalitarian entity. And it has managed successfully to corrupt the national elites to sell out the freedom of their peoples by inviting them to take part in the world’s largest racket, paid for by European taxpayers.”

All this has taken place right before our very eyes, for remember, “we the people” have allowed this behemoth to gain strength by breathing life into it with our hard earned cash. We have a creation within our midst that is as hard to comprehend as it is to imagine its breadth, width, height and depth. It’s staggering I tell you, and yet we remain oblivious to the ramifications of its immensity.

The EU’s 170,000-strong army of bureaucrats 08 August 2008 A study released by Open Europe today finds that the EU now employs an “army” of bureaucrats.

170,000 people now work for the EU institutions. As well as those who work for the EU directly, the study finds that there are many more officials working for the EU indirectly. For example: working for the EU agencies; working for the EU overseas; sitting on EU policy committees; or working in the member states’ representations to the EU. In total there are far more people working for the EU (170,000) than in the UK army (107,000).

The Commission claims that the EU’s bureaucratic employees are “fewer than the number of staff employed by a typical medium-sized city council in Europe.” But when the full picture is revealed, in fact, the EU employs the equivalent of the entire population of a medium-sized European city. Swansea, for instance, has roughly the same number of inhabitants as the EU employs.

In fact, the study finds that the EU now employs more people than the combined total of staff working for the Treasury (1,451), the Home Office (25,299), the Department for Work and Pensions (107,998), the Department for Health (3,467), the Foreign Office (16,169), the Department for International Development (1,612), the Department for Innovation, Universities and Skills (809), and the Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform (7,854).

Open Europe analyst Nick Cosgrove said:

“The Commission desperately tries to play down just how many people are now working for the EU. They are extremely secretive about the number of people who are working to churn out regulations.”

“These people are not elected, and cannot be held accountable by ordinary citizens. But they have a huge effect on our lives, affecting everything from the price of electricity and food to the way we run the NHS.”
“The huge number of people now working for the EU reflects its huge influence. The difficulty of finding out how many officials are working there reflects the EU’s wider problem with a lack of transparency. It is a complicated and opaque institution, which leaves it wide open to influence from lobbyists and vested interests.”
The full calculations are available below.

Notes for Editors

1) For more information please contact Neil O’Brien or Nick Cosgrove on 0207 197 2333 or 07973 142775

The EU’s 170,000-strong army of bureaucrats

“The day-to-day running of the Commission is in the hands of administrative officials, experts, translators, interpreters and secretarial staff. There are approximately 23,000 of these European civil servants. That may sound a lot, but in fact it is fewer than the number of staff employed by a typical medium-sized city council in Europe.”
– European Commission pamphlet: “How the European Union works – your guide to the EU institutions”[1]

“50 reasons to love the European Union… number 13: Small EU bureaucracy (24,000 employees, fewer than the BBC)”
– The Independent, 21 March 2007

“Reasons to celebrate the European Union’s 50th birthday… number 14: About 24,000 employees – fewer than the BBC employs – are helping 27 nations to come together.”
– Denis MacShane, The Guardian’s Comment is Free, 25 March 2007

The whole enterprise is shrouded in mystery and cultish elitism, very much like the USSR of old, where blue smoke and mirrors politics ruled the day. I met an EU lobbyist the other day and posed a question that, at the moment, he simply refused to answer.

Asking whether the EU governmental apparatus that’s in existence would be acceptable on the local level, he graciously balked at answering the question. For to say no, would remove a few legs that prop up the myth that the EU is a “good for Europe”. Perhaps the loose economic confederation of democratic European states would be healthy for the continent, but certainly not the Leviathan that currently resides in Brussels and Strasbourg. More here. KGS

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