European madness
Posted: Thu Nov 11, 2010 2:27 am
Millions of pounds of EU funds have been squandered on projects including a hydrotherapy centre for dogs and sending a troupe round Britain to perform the Smelly Foot Dance.
Taxpayers’ cash has also gone to a ‘hip-hop laboratory’ in Lyon, France, to address the ‘lack of co-operation in European hip-hop’.
The details were revealed yesterday by the think-tank Open Europe, a day after auditors refused to give the EU’s accounts a clean bill of health for the 16th year in a row.
Some £4.5m went on a fleet of limousines for European MPs in Strasbourg in 2009 alone. All chauffeurs at the company used must sign a confidentiality clause ‘guaranteeing absolute discretion’. In Britain, golf courses, motorsport centres and hunting clubs have all benefited from thousands of pounds meant for farming subsidies.
Open Europe director Mats Persson said: ‘The EU’s budget is irrational, overly complex and hopelessly out of date. Huge amounts of money are wasted on projects which do nothing to help the EU economy to get back on track. There should be no talk whatsoever of budget increases until the problems with waste and mismanagement are stamped out.
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article ... z14w9RTF4E
