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talkpolitics2013-07-23 11:57 pm
ddstory.livejournal.com) wrote in talkpolitics2013-07-23 11:57 pm
Entry tags:
What does an EMP work
Big government, you say? Fine, then...
"It's 9:30 a.m. Mr and Mrs MEP are at their office. Mr MEP wants to send a letter, but he doesn't have an envelope. His assistant brings him an envelope. Mr MEP puts the letter in the envelope and gives it to the courier. The courier delivers it to the postman..."
Turns out, you need 4 people so a Member of the European Parliament could send a letter somewhere. In the 21st century. That's the lesson you end up with, having read the curious booklet "Mr and Mrs MEP and Their Helpers", which became a hit lately, but not among the 7 year olds (for which it was originally designed), but rather among their parents.
After Bruno Waterfield wrote in his blog at The Telegraph about this booklet, many people decided this was just some dumb prank. But it turned out the "joke" was on the MEPs themselves, because the educational booklet is indeed for real. It's been printed with European funds, in 15,000 copies, and they're being given out during the "open-gates days" around the EU institutions (since the beginning of May). Exactly who's responsible for that campaign, and what its exact cost is, remains unclear at this point.
If we look closer at the booklet, turns out the MEPs don't do anything particularly demanding, apart from wasting EU funds and enjoying some serious privileges.
A friend of mine who works at the European Parliament as an interpreter told me a curious story. The booklet went viral during June's EP meeting, where David Cameron himself gave out a few copies to his colleagues. She said people were shocked. First they thought this was some kind of joke by The Telegraph. It took them some time to figure out it was a very real, a scandalous waste of money. Cameron remarked that it was, among other things, also sexist: in the booklet, Mr MEP was working until 18:40, and Mrs MEP until 18:00.
My friend told me the booklet is still a deficit item in the European Parliament, and is being sought after as some piece of rare artifact. What's more, it's misleading and erroneous. It's a caricature of an otherwise important institution, and its effect will possibly be more negative than positive, in that it'd garner more Euroscepticism among the public.
The children's booklet is actually supposed to be for painting. With pencils. It begins with Mr and Mrs MEP's trip from Brussels to Strasbourg. There's a limo waiting for them at the airport. They basically need an assistant or some other EP employee to help them at any step they make. They finish work early, then always go to the shopping center to buy some presents... And at the end of their stay in Strasbourg, they load trucks with documentation, which is to be transported back to Brussels. Tons and tons of paper! And all of that is shown in colorful pictures in many funny ways.
In fact the booklet focuses on the monthly trips of the MEPs between Brussels and Strasbourg, where they spend 4 days every month in order to take part in the EP meetings. But the description of the trip really does them no favor. It shows in a very caricature-like manner what a useless and wasteful undertaking it is. Something many journalists have reported on, but somehow, for political reasons, these comments have thus far remained ignored.
Right now, the European Parliament is dispersed between three locations: Brussels, Strasbourg and Luxembourg. The sessions of the parliamentary commissions are held in Brussels, the plenary sessions of the EP in Strasbourg (4 days a month), and Luxembourg hosts the administrative offices, or the so called General Secretariat. Once a month, the EMPs travel from Brussels to Strasbourg, but they themselves are not very happy with that.The Singleseat initiative, which advocates moving the EP to a single-location seat, has calculated that 180 million euro is being spent every year for meetings in these several places, 19 tons of CO2 are emitted for transporting the MEPs and their respective documentation, etc. Moving from three locations to a single one is generally supported by 3/4 of all MEPs, but realistically, the decision is political and rests with the member states. And so far there've been no signs that such a step would be done any time soon. For example France (where my interpreter friend is from), insists on hosting the EP sessions in Strasbourg. What the hell.
Now, 7 year old kids are hardly too interested in what a MEP does during their day. More like, the adult EU citizens should be educated about what these institutions are about. In any case, what the kids should be hearing about is that their society is built upon certain norms and rules, and both the European and national parliaments participate in crafting and upholding said rules. That's what I'd have told my toddler son if I were to explain to him what the EP does.
And let me just point out that in reality, the sessions of the EP in Strasbourg often continue until late in the night and it's not true that they end in the early afternoon, as the booklet claims. And most MEPs actually bring their documents with them without the help of any aides. But on the other hand, indeed there's a lot of monthly documentation that needs to be transported between the cities, even though a lot has been done to digitalize it. And that problem needs addressing. All this paper and bureaucracy is just staggering.
After Croatia became the 28th EU member earlier this month, the number of MEPs has grown to 766. Their salary is 7956.87 euro (before being taxed), and 6200.72 net. Of course the tax rate is considerably high in Europe, and besides they fall into the higher tax bracket, and there are lots of expenses related to their job, compared to what they would've been if they were doing their job in just one country.
Meanwhile, the base MEP salary is 38.5% that of a judge at the EU Court. As per the Luxembourg accords from 2009, all MEPs receive the same salary, and they're paid from the EU, not the national budgets.
Still, the MEPs do have the right to hire assistants to help them with their work. In 2011 the maximum amount for hiring assistants was set to 21 209 euro. Furthermore, only their aides could have access to the money, not the MEP themselves. In addition, the MEPs have their phone, transportation and accommodation expenses covered, and these amounts also have a fixed ceiling.
Sure, no one disputes that the job is responsible, and it requires funding. But sometimes there are cases when huge amounts of money are being "absorbed" just for the absorption's sake, as is evidently the case with this children's booklet. In fact it did turn out to be educating, but more likely it "educated" the adults. Because it has taught them some more about the absurdities of the Euro institutions, and the reversed effects of inadequate PR. So I say, give us more of these gaffes so we could see the true face of bureaucracy! ;)
"It's 9:30 a.m. Mr and Mrs MEP are at their office. Mr MEP wants to send a letter, but he doesn't have an envelope. His assistant brings him an envelope. Mr MEP puts the letter in the envelope and gives it to the courier. The courier delivers it to the postman..."
Turns out, you need 4 people so a Member of the European Parliament could send a letter somewhere. In the 21st century. That's the lesson you end up with, having read the curious booklet "Mr and Mrs MEP and Their Helpers", which became a hit lately, but not among the 7 year olds (for which it was originally designed), but rather among their parents.
After Bruno Waterfield wrote in his blog at The Telegraph about this booklet, many people decided this was just some dumb prank. But it turned out the "joke" was on the MEPs themselves, because the educational booklet is indeed for real. It's been printed with European funds, in 15,000 copies, and they're being given out during the "open-gates days" around the EU institutions (since the beginning of May). Exactly who's responsible for that campaign, and what its exact cost is, remains unclear at this point.
If we look closer at the booklet, turns out the MEPs don't do anything particularly demanding, apart from wasting EU funds and enjoying some serious privileges.
A friend of mine who works at the European Parliament as an interpreter told me a curious story. The booklet went viral during June's EP meeting, where David Cameron himself gave out a few copies to his colleagues. She said people were shocked. First they thought this was some kind of joke by The Telegraph. It took them some time to figure out it was a very real, a scandalous waste of money. Cameron remarked that it was, among other things, also sexist: in the booklet, Mr MEP was working until 18:40, and Mrs MEP until 18:00.
My friend told me the booklet is still a deficit item in the European Parliament, and is being sought after as some piece of rare artifact. What's more, it's misleading and erroneous. It's a caricature of an otherwise important institution, and its effect will possibly be more negative than positive, in that it'd garner more Euroscepticism among the public.
The children's booklet is actually supposed to be for painting. With pencils. It begins with Mr and Mrs MEP's trip from Brussels to Strasbourg. There's a limo waiting for them at the airport. They basically need an assistant or some other EP employee to help them at any step they make. They finish work early, then always go to the shopping center to buy some presents... And at the end of their stay in Strasbourg, they load trucks with documentation, which is to be transported back to Brussels. Tons and tons of paper! And all of that is shown in colorful pictures in many funny ways.
In fact the booklet focuses on the monthly trips of the MEPs between Brussels and Strasbourg, where they spend 4 days every month in order to take part in the EP meetings. But the description of the trip really does them no favor. It shows in a very caricature-like manner what a useless and wasteful undertaking it is. Something many journalists have reported on, but somehow, for political reasons, these comments have thus far remained ignored.
Right now, the European Parliament is dispersed between three locations: Brussels, Strasbourg and Luxembourg. The sessions of the parliamentary commissions are held in Brussels, the plenary sessions of the EP in Strasbourg (4 days a month), and Luxembourg hosts the administrative offices, or the so called General Secretariat. Once a month, the EMPs travel from Brussels to Strasbourg, but they themselves are not very happy with that.The Singleseat initiative, which advocates moving the EP to a single-location seat, has calculated that 180 million euro is being spent every year for meetings in these several places, 19 tons of CO2 are emitted for transporting the MEPs and their respective documentation, etc. Moving from three locations to a single one is generally supported by 3/4 of all MEPs, but realistically, the decision is political and rests with the member states. And so far there've been no signs that such a step would be done any time soon. For example France (where my interpreter friend is from), insists on hosting the EP sessions in Strasbourg. What the hell.
Now, 7 year old kids are hardly too interested in what a MEP does during their day. More like, the adult EU citizens should be educated about what these institutions are about. In any case, what the kids should be hearing about is that their society is built upon certain norms and rules, and both the European and national parliaments participate in crafting and upholding said rules. That's what I'd have told my toddler son if I were to explain to him what the EP does.
And let me just point out that in reality, the sessions of the EP in Strasbourg often continue until late in the night and it's not true that they end in the early afternoon, as the booklet claims. And most MEPs actually bring their documents with them without the help of any aides. But on the other hand, indeed there's a lot of monthly documentation that needs to be transported between the cities, even though a lot has been done to digitalize it. And that problem needs addressing. All this paper and bureaucracy is just staggering.
After Croatia became the 28th EU member earlier this month, the number of MEPs has grown to 766. Their salary is 7956.87 euro (before being taxed), and 6200.72 net. Of course the tax rate is considerably high in Europe, and besides they fall into the higher tax bracket, and there are lots of expenses related to their job, compared to what they would've been if they were doing their job in just one country.
Meanwhile, the base MEP salary is 38.5% that of a judge at the EU Court. As per the Luxembourg accords from 2009, all MEPs receive the same salary, and they're paid from the EU, not the national budgets.
Still, the MEPs do have the right to hire assistants to help them with their work. In 2011 the maximum amount for hiring assistants was set to 21 209 euro. Furthermore, only their aides could have access to the money, not the MEP themselves. In addition, the MEPs have their phone, transportation and accommodation expenses covered, and these amounts also have a fixed ceiling.
Sure, no one disputes that the job is responsible, and it requires funding. But sometimes there are cases when huge amounts of money are being "absorbed" just for the absorption's sake, as is evidently the case with this children's booklet. In fact it did turn out to be educating, but more likely it "educated" the adults. Because it has taught them some more about the absurdities of the Euro institutions, and the reversed effects of inadequate PR. So I say, give us more of these gaffes so we could see the true face of bureaucracy! ;)