London MEP calls for bonfire of EU Quangos

London Conservative MEP Marina Yannakoudakis today called for a bonfire of EU quangos starting with the Vilnius-based European Institute for Gender Equality.

As Conservative spokesman for Women’s Rights and Gender Equality in the European Parliament, Marina sees no value-added in the institute.

In a speech to the European Parliament today, she said: “The Institute is an expensive folly with a budget of €7 million.

“It duplicates the work of Member States, the work of the Commission’s DG Employment, and – most shamefully of all – the work of another EU agency: the EU Agency for Fundamental Rights

“The British government, when faced with austerity promised a bonfire of the quangos. Winding up advisory bodies and agencies in the UK is set to save the country over £2 billion.

“The EU needs to light its own quango bonfire and where better to start than with the European Institute for Gender Equality?”