Attacking Brussels privilege

In its story on the recently passed European Union budget, the Telegraph vents its spleen about the purported excess of senior EU officials. The story is full of juicy tidbits about the grandeur of EU offices and salaries. A representative sample: Other senior EU figures have been surprised, and jealous, at the lavish and luxurious ...

By , a professor at Indiana University’s Hamilton Lugar School of Global and International Studies.

In its story on the recently passed European Union budget, the Telegraph vents its spleen about the purported excess of senior EU officials. The story is full of juicy tidbits about the grandeur of EU offices and salaries. A representative sample:

In its story on the recently passed European Union budget, the Telegraph vents its spleen about the purported excess of senior EU officials. The story is full of juicy tidbits about the grandeur of EU offices and salaries. A representative sample:

Other senior EU figures have been surprised, and jealous, at the lavish and luxurious office of Mr Van Rompuy, recently refurbished at undisclosed expense, despite the fact that a £280 million office block is being built for him.

"He has the most expensive sofas of any EU official, his walls are hung with trendy art works, and he has the best cooks and wine cellar in Brussels. And, it’ll all be torn down when he gets his new office which will grander than anything ever seen here," said one envious EU aide.

Other sources have revealed that Jose Manuel Barroso, the Commission President, has become concerned about his expanding waistline because, as a frequent visitor to Mr Van Rompuy, he is unable to keeps his hands off the Ferrero Rocher chocolates that are piled in bowls scattered around the office.

The Telegraph claims that David Cameron, Angela Merkel and Nicolas Sarkozy are united in their desire to tame the growth of the EU’s budget.

David Bosco is a professor at Indiana University’s Hamilton Lugar School of Global and International Studies. He is the author of The Poseidon Project: The Struggle to Govern the World’s Oceans. Twitter: @multilateralist

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