The Bumper Book of Government Waste (2006) declares that there are 13 Press Officers in the Council of Ministers; 27 in the European Commission; and 53 in the European Parliament
Again it is not clear how the Bumper Book came to these estimates, actually presented as facts in the Book. Moreover, it is not clear how having press officers can be deemed to be wasteful as they facilitate the flow of information through the media.
The European Parliament currently has fewer than 50 press officers: one for each of the 20 languages plus 12 specialists, 3 on the information hotline, and currently 9 press attachés in the Parliament's Information Offices around the EU (this will rise to one per Office, so around 50 press officers will eventually be an accurate figure)
For the European Commission, there are many more than 27 press officers. As well as a press spokesperson for each of the 25 Commissioners, there are press officers in the different Directorates General and press officers in many of the European Commission's Representations around the world - taken globally, this makes many more than the European Parliament, but the European Parliament does not have any information offices outside the EU itself. |