In a report by EUObersever, one unnamed senior EU official spoke of his frustration that while EU residents are having to face serious cuts to services, welfare and income, the number of unaccountable EU institutions continues to grow. In 2011, the administrative costs for all EU institutions will climb 4.4 percent, with the total amounting to €8.3 billion out of the bloc's budget. The cost rises from other institutions including the European Parliament, the Committee of the Regions, the Economic and Social Committee, the European Court of Justice, the Court of Auditors and the various agencies will come to 4.8 percent, with the total costs amounting to just over €3 billion. This comes at a time when most EU Member States, in particular Romania and Greece, are facing massive cuts. One of the most costly and wasteful aspects of the EU's functioning is that the French city of Strasbourg is the official seat of the European Parliament and its secretariat is in Luxembourg, but most work is done in the parliament's buildings in Brussels. The cost of the "travelling circus" shuttling between the three cities in 2011 will come to an estimated €240 million over what would be spent for a single location. France however has consistently called the move to a single seat "non-negotiable." Best comment was that in German many EU institutions are referred to as 'Tintenburgen', or 'Ink Castles', producing a mountain of reports that few people pay any attention to. I can testify to that, and add that they are written in EU-ese versions of the 23 official languages of the Union, rendering their functionality for EU citizens completely useless.
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