Spare a thought for the EU civil servants toiling for the taxpayer day in day out!

The total EU27 toilet stock is estimated at around 392 million units. And it is growing

faster than the EU in general ...

(Image: Tiia Monto, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=35024567)

We should all spare a thought for the thousands of European Union civil servants (disparagingly sometimes called "EU bureaurats") who tirelessly toil for us taxpayers, day in day out. The range of work done by these often unnamed heroes is amazing.

Only the other day, I e.g. found out that, as part of their work aiding the EU Commission finally to regulate our toilets and urinals, civil servants in the EU General Directorate Environment have after several years of diligent work published a comprehensive 60-page study with hitherto unknown facts about toilet "user behaviour" and "best practices". As a "stakeholder", I was e.g. most excited to learn that "domestic flash toilets are used 7.75 times a day" and that the "lifetime of a domestic toilet is 12.5 years". And who would have thought that there are 155 thousand prison toilets in our Union? The EU Commission, working for us all, has of course realized that there is an urgent need to regulate the use of the 392 million toilet "units" within the Union!

Here are some key findings from the EU report:

In 2011, the total EU27 toilet stock is estimated at around 392 million units, including 277 million domestic toilets (70.7 %) and 115 million nondomestic toilets (29.3 %), mainly in office buildings (87 million, or 22.2 %) and tourist accommodations (23 million, or 5.8 %). In addition, it is estimated that about 18 million (4.7 %) units are potentially under the scope of public procurement. From Table 1 and Table 2, we can note that the number of prison toilets (EU total of 155 thousand units, 0.04 %) are insignificant compared to the other categories. --

From Table 3, we can see that the EU27 toilet stock of main contributing categories (domestic, offices and tourism) is expected to rise slowly by 2030 (range of 0.3-0.4 %/year), while for less contributing categories the toilet stock is foreseen to remain about stable (education) or even to decrease slightly (hospitals). All in all, the total EU27 toilet stock is expected to increase annually by about 0.3 %, with around 417 million units installed in 2030 (6.3 % increase over the two decades). --

 In 2011, the estimated total EU27 stock of urinals is about 44.3 million units, mainly in office buildings (42.8 million or 96.6 %). In addition, it is estimated that about 8.3 million (18.7 %) units are potentially under the scope of public procurement. From Table 4, we can note that the number of urinals in hospitals and prisons, and to a certain extent in tourist accommodations, is insignificant compared to the other categories. --

From Table 6, we can see that the EU27 urinal stock of the major contributing category (offices) is expected to rise slowly by 2030 (0.3 %/year), while the other significant category (education) is foreseen to remain about stable. All in all, the total EU27 urinal stock is expected to increase annually by about 0.3 %, with around 46.8 million units installed in 2030 (5.7 % increase over the two decades). --

 The typical lifetime of a domestic toilet is 12.5 years, 17.5 years for a nondomestic toilet, and 22.5 years for urinals. In general, this is limited not by the product durability but by the drive to refurbish facilities periodically; --

domestic flushing toilets are used 7.75 times a day, non-domestic flushing toilets 25 times a day and flushing urinals 40 times a day. For dual flush toilets, they are assumed to be used one full flush for every three reduced flushes. --

Victory for David Cameron: EU Commission President Juncker now opposes "ever closer Union"!

Juncker now opposes "ever closer Union"

"People feel that the EU is heading in a direction that they never signed up to. They resent the interference in our national life by what they see as unnecessary rules and regulation. And they wonder what the point of it all is. Put simply, many ask 'why can't we just have what we voted to join - a common market?"

 

David Cameron

"I'm ready to be insulted as being insufficiently democratic, but I want to be serious ... I am for secret, dark debates"

Jean-Claude Juncker

Sweet victory for David Cameron!

In a major speech to be given in London next week, EU Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker will admit that Cameron is right; The European Union should give up its goal of "ever closer Union".

Juncker and Cameron have met several times in secret in order to discuss Cameron´s Europe agenda. During these meetings Cameron was able to convince Juncker that the EU should return to its original concept - a primarily free trade organisation without any ambitions to grow into a federation.

Juncker and Cameron are planning to introduce their new plan for Europe at an EU summit to be held in Brussels in May. Several EU leaders have already announced their support for the Cameron-Juncker plan.

The reason for this unexpected turnaround is, according to a source who has been involved in the discussions, the growing opposition against the present German dominated model of the Union. A UK led loose free trade area is in the present circumstances much more appealing to many of the present member countries.

The new Cameron-Juncker plan would bring an additional much welcomed benefit: The number of EU bureaucrats could be reduced from the present 170,000 to about 7,000.

EU Home Affairs Commissioner: Corruption in the European Union "breathtaking"

The European Commission has for the first time published a report on corruption in the EU member countries. The result is not flattering. Corruption is estimated to cost the EU economy 120 billion euros ($162.19 billion) annually - the size of the EU's annual budget. EU Home Affairs Commissioner Cecilia Malmström, who presented the report, said the extent of corruption in Europe is "breathtaking":

She said the true cost of corruption was "probably much higher" than 120bn.

Three-quarters of Europeans surveyed for the Commission study said that corruption was widespread, and more than half said the level had increased.

"The extent of the problem in Europe is breathtaking, although Sweden is among the countries with the least problems," Ms Malmstroem wrote in Sweden's Goeteborgs-Posten daily.

The cost to the EU economy is equivalent to the bloc's annual budget.

For the report the Commission studied corruption in all 28 EU member states. The Commission says it is the first time it has done such a survey.

What is interesting is that the report did not include a chapter assessing corruption within the EU Commission and other EU institutions. There were plans to include such a chapter, but - surprise, surprise - they were dropped!

No wonder then that European Ombudsman Emily O'Reilly demanded in a statement, that the EU institutions should be included in the next corruption report. However, it is highly unlikely that the overpaid eurocrats in Brussels will agree.