EU chief spent £75k on Yerevan and Baku trip, Brussels says releasing expenses cost too much
The EU Foreign affairs boss Federica Mogherini took a chartered flight to the South Caucasus region - as it emerged Brussels commissioners spent half a million of pounds on travel in just two months at the expense of taxpayers, The Express reported. Eurocrats had desperately tried to withhold the information, claiming making travel expenses public would create an “excessive administrative burden”.
However, in the first two months of 2016, the European Commission spent close to €500,000 (£450,000) on 261 official trips.
The bloc’s foreign chief, Federica Mogherini, hit the record. Her mission to Baku (Azerbaijan) and Yerevan (Armenia) between 29 February and 3 March 2016 totalled €75,393.
According to the source, the EU boss Jean-Claude Juncker also enjoyed an expensive two-day trip to Rome, which cost €27,000 (£25,000) as revealed by a request from Spanish transparency NGO Access Info.
Nigel Farage, UKIP MEP European Parliament hit out saying the amount of money spent on Jean-Claude Juncker’s private jet, saying it was “outrageous”.
He said: “Juncker spending €27,000 on a private jet at taxpayers' expense is clearly over the top especially when many normal flights are available.
“I suppose these junket expenses are all part of the make-believe 'Brexit bill' which these Commissioners have plucked out of thin air and trying to extort from our government."
Brussels have refused to release the travel expenses for the rest of 2016 saying it is already “one of the most controlled organisations in the world” because it submits its spending to the European Parliament and European Court of Auditors.