Eurocrats celebrate Christmas with huge payrise: Taxpayers fleeced for €100m more annually

Bild in Germany, reporting the pay spikes today, said: “A nice Christmas surprise for the nearly 38,000 employees!

“Their salaries and pensions increase by 1.5 per cent retroactively on July 1. EU commissioners and MEPs also benefit from this. There are up to almost €500 more per month for them.”

Eurostat, the statistics office of the bloc, base the raises on the cost of living in Belgium and Luxembourg.

The most basic salaries of EU civil servants rise from €2,830 to €2,872 in the lowest grade and from €19,588 to €19,882 per month in the highest.

There are also tax-exempt allowances. A married EU director-General now deserves €23,322 a month. In comparison: The official salary of Chancellor Angela Merkel is currently €18,388-a-month.

This means around 800 officials of the European Commission draw more pay than her.

EU Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker and EU Council President Donald Tusk now earn around €32,200-a-month, including allowances – around €500 more than before. 

The salaries of the six Vice-Presidents of the European Commission increase, including allowances, by around €450 to €30,317.

An EU commissioner earns just under €400 more, some €26,236.

MEPs will see their pay increase from €8,484 to €8,611-a-month.

Another incentive to work for the gravy train is the fact Eurocrats pay a less onerous EU tax. As a single person an EU director general pays about 25 per cent of his tax salary. In Germany, for example, he would have to give 39 per cent to the state.

Bild said the salary increases cost EU taxpayers around €100 million annually.