New book exposes the real cost to Britain of EU membership
25 Mar 2011
Europe On 387 Million Euros A Day by Olly Figg describes EU as
A new book has uncovered the real cost to the UK of EU membership in a week when the institution has been rocked by scandal.
Europe On 387 Million Euros A Day charts the extent to which the European Union's "insidious, unbidden" power has imposed itself everywhere from the High Street to the waters off the coast of Africa.
According to author Olly Figg, a journalist and leading EU commentator, Britain contributes £16billion to the EU every year and in return has the "vast majority" of UK law drafted in Belgium.
Figg, a fierce critic of the EU, points out that eurocrats now dictate issues as diverse as the privatisation of the Royal Mail, the phasing out of traditional light bulbs, the working hours of doctors, genetically modified food and the rate of VAT on condoms.
The book, published by St Edwards Press, also raises concerns over the "excessive" levels of salaries and expenses that the EU's 754 MEPs can receive in the line of work.
It has been released in a week when a number of senior MEPs have hit the national headlines over acts of gross misconduct.
The EU has been rocked by the "cash-for-laws" scandal exposed by the Sunday Times, where three MEPs were caught agreeing to table amendments in return for payments from journalists posing as lobbyists.
MEPs Ernst Strasser and Slovene Zoran Thaler have resigned while the third MEP implicated in the scandal - Romanian Adrian Severin - has been expelled from his parliamentary group and now sits as independent.
Also this week former Conservative MEP Den Dover was ordered by the European Court of Justice to pay back £345,289 in unjustified expenses claims.
Mr Dover, who represented the North West of England in Brussels until 2009 and is a former MP for Chorley in Lancashire, plans to appeal.
Speaking yesterday from his home in London, Figg said the publication of his book couldn't be more "timely".
He said: "The European Union is one of the world's most powerful institutions yet as a body it is financially incontinent and a huge drain on our resources.
"We pay £16 billion gross every year for the privilege of outsourcing our lawmaking to eurocrats and in return we get a lot of laws we never asked for and would never have dreamed up ourselves.
"The money goes into everything from MEPs' allowances for false teeth to propaganda aimed at children. In light of recent scandals involving MEPs can anyone still believe we're spending our borrowed money wisely?"
'Europe on 387 Million Euros A Day' is available now, priced £15. It can also be downloaded free from http://tinyurl.com/figg387
ISBN: 9780955418839
By Jason Taylors
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