EU to have a huge delegation at the Rio+20 conference

The Copacabana is waiting for the EU high fliers

The European Union is planning to have an "imperial" presence at the United Nations Conference On Sustainable Development in Rio de Janeiro on June 20 - 22. The Commission alone will be represented by its President José Manuel Barroso and five other commissioners. Hower each of these unelected eurocrats will have their own delegations, consisting of about 20 persons, which brings the total to at least 120 bureaucrats:

The EU executive is flying six top officials plus an unspecified number of aides to June's Rio Summit on sustainable development but plans to tighten spending, a European Commission spokeswoman said Thursday.

Commission president Jose Manuel Barroso will fly to Brazil with commissioners Janez Potocnik (Environment), Connie Hedegaard (Climate), Andris Piebalgs (Development) Maria Damanaki (Fishing) and Dacian Ciolos (Agriculture), said spokeswoman Pia Ahrenkilde Hansen.

Speaking after the European parliament cancelled its participation due to concerns over cost, the spokeswoman said the commissioners would "be accompanied by collaborators, but the make-up of the delegations isn't yet finalised."

"We're very sensitive to costs and are trying to reduce our expenses as much as possible in all fields including travel and accommodation," she said.

"Only collaborators who have a precise role" to play will go to Rio, she added.

A source speaking on condition of anonymity said however that each commissioner's delegation was expected to number 20 people.

There is no information about the size of EU "President" Herman van Rompuy´s delegation. But for prestige reasons alone it will most likely be at least of the same size as the Commission President´s delegation. 

On thing is certain, there will be infighting about who gets a seat (and bed) on the new Falcon 7x super jet, now at the disposal of the EU top executives.

This is how EU´s business jet provider describes their newest plane: 

Our new Falcon 7X will be able to accommodate up to 13 passengers. A total of 6 beds can be fitted for long overnight flights. The cabin is what you can expect from a Falcon jet : top of the range finishing and unbeatable comfort.

This is waiting for Barroso and the Baroness on the way to Rio

The unelected high fliers do not have to think about the reaction of the voters when travelling in style, like MEP:s have to do:

On Wednesday evening, the European parliament cancelled plans to send a delegation of 11 MEPs to the UN Rio+20 summit, citing spiralling hotel costs in particular.

"The huge increase in the estimated cost of attending the summit is simply not justifiable, especially at a time when many Europeans are faced with economic hardship", said Environment Committee Chairman Matthias Groote.

He requested parliament formally register a complaint to the organisers of the conference.


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When the hundreds of delegates from the various EU member countries are added, the EU will succeed at least in creating a huge carbon footprint. 

(image by wikipedia)