Bureaucratic Brussels ?superstate? is a myth (Islington Liberal Democrats)

Islington Liberal Democrats <Islington_ld@cix.co.uk>

Bureaucratic Brussels ?superstate? is a myth

June 19, 2002 12:00 AM

The idea that Brussels is full of bureaucrats building some sort of ësuperstateí is ridiculous when all the EU institutions put together only employ one-tenth the staff of the London boroughs. I have quizzed the 32 London boroughs and the Corporation of London, which governs the Square Mile, about their staff numbers, and all but three boroughs responded. The 29 boroughs that offered information about their staff numbers and the Corporation of London employ a total of over 220,000 members of staff, whereas all the EU institutions together ñ the European Commission, the European Parliament, the Council of Ministers, Court of Justice ñ employ a total of 23,000. The fact that London's local authorities employ ten times as many staff as all the EU institutions put together proves that talk of a 'European superstate' ruled over by hordes of 'Brussels bureaucrats' is a whole load of nonsense. Staff employed by the London Borough of Newham alone are half as numerous as all the 'Eurocrats'. This just goes to show that people should always take Eurosceptic talk with a big pinch of salt. When it comes to the EU, don't believe all the myths that the anti-Europeans come out with. Below is a borough-by-borough breakdown Barking & Dagenham 7,949 Barnet 9,830 Bexley 7,500 Brent no figures offered Bromley 5,397 Camden 7,144 Corporation of London 3,490 Croydon 10,717 Ealing 10,368 Enfield 10,228 Greenwich 10,700 Hackney no figures offered Hammersmith & Fulham 6,998 Haringey 8,000 Harrow 5,630 Havering 7,853 Hillingdon 6,703 Hounslow 7,148 Islington 7,000 Kensington & Chelsea 3,913 Kingston-upon-Thames 4,687 Lambeth no figures offered Lewisham 8,600 Merton 5,000 Newham 10,986 Redbridge 8,703 Richmond-upon-Thames 4,827 Southwark 7,616 Sutton 5,000 Tower Hamlets 7,550 Waltham Forest 8,000 Wandsworth 6,570 City of Westminster 6,121 TOTAL 220,228