The Mail and the front page of the Express report that EU officials are in line for three pay rises – boosting their salaries by over five percent, over the next 12 months. The European Commission’s budget proposal for 2011 states, “A salary increase of 2.2 per cent is expected at the end of 2010 with a potential further adjustment to 1.3 per cent in 2011.”

On top of this, officials are set for a third increase following a European Court of Justice (ECJ) ruling on the dispute over a 3.7 per cent increase that UK and other member states halted last year due to the financial crisis. The ECJ judges are expected to rule in favour of the increase later this year, which would be backdated to July 2009. The ECJ’s judges also stand to benefit from the increase as all EU pay is derived from the same scale. The salary of an EU Director-General would rise by £1,000, to a gross income of anywhere between £17,600 and £18,500 per month.

Open Europe is quoted in the Express saying, “The government needs to stand up for UK taxpayers and make it clear that handing over more money to Brussels when it is budget-cutting at home is simply unacceptable.”