There have been so many stories about the EU wasting taxpayers’ money in ludicrous ways, that we start to think we’ll eventually become immune to the shock. But, as ever, the ladies and gents in Brussels have a knack of proving us wrong. On Sunday the Sun revealed that the EU has set up a new base in that hub of European political action, Barbados. This will cost £2million a year to run and will dole out £230million-worth of funding to local projects that include retraining banana growers. We weren’t aware that the politicians and bureaucrats of the EU had sufficient banana growing skills to train Caribbean farmers.
The complex on the luxurious south west coast of the island naturally includes a rented apartment block with tropical gardens and a swimming pool for senior Eurocrats. The EU delegation of 9 officials and 30 local staff administer projects, relating to 10 countries in the Lesser Antilles of the Eastern Caribbean.
The idea that EU taxpayers fund such spurious and costly projects, particularly at a time of European and UK economic meltdown, is ridiculous. But the excessive scale of this latest folly shows how out of touch Eurocrats are.
Our guess is that taxpayers will be extremely disappointed, but not at all surprised by this latest EU project. It’s the latest in a long line of wasteful spending by the EU and its institutions. What’s worse is that much of the money goes on pampering politicians and Eurocrats when taxpayers back home are doing their best to make ends meet.
