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Courtesy of the Telegraph.
The European Commission was today plunged into a row over its travel expenses after it emerged that Jean-Claude Juncker had splashed out £24,000 of taxpayers’ money on a private plane for a two-day visit to Rome.
The commission spent half a million euros on travel for its commissioners in January and February 2016, which works out at £8,000 being claimed by each of the 28 commissioners every month.
Costs soared whenever private planes were chartered for flights to the trips to 26 EU countries and 23 nations outside of the bloc. The commission said "air taxis" were chartered 28 times in 2016, more than twice a month, and added the flights were often shared with the presidents of the European Council and Parliament.
Mr Junker’s flight by "air taxi" was revealed in travel expenses for the first two months of 2016, which were published today after a Spanish NGO made an information request.
In February 2016, Mr Juncker flew by private jet just 220 miles from Brussels to Strasbourg. Five years ago, the Commission paid £11.3 million for access to a fleet of six jets.
EU foreign affairs chief Federica Mogherini spent just under £68,000 on a visit to Baku, Azerbaijan, according to analysis in Belgian magazine Knack. A chartered airplane for a delegation of six to eight was used to travel from Azerbaijan to another summit in Armenia before returning to Brussels.
Mr Juncker is the president of the Brussels-headquartered European Commission, which is demanding Britain pays a financial settlement for leaving the EU.
While no figure has been made public and will be subject to tough negotiation, the bloc is believed to be pushing for up to 100 billion euros. The Telegraph reported that the UK was considering an offer of £36 billion.
UKIP MEP Nigel Farage told The Telegraph: "Outrageous! Juncker spending £24,000 on a private jet at taxpayers' expense is clearly over the top especially when many normal flights are available.