European Commission to trim EU staff costs

The European Commission - the EU's civil service - says it plans to cut its administration costs by 6bn euros (£5.4bn) in the period to 2020

"The Commission will cut its staff of about 55,000 by 5% through natural wastage and by not creating new jobs.

The cuts will also affect the EU's new foreign diplomatic arm - the External Action Service.

In 2009-2010 Commission staff got a 3.7% pay rise - not the 1.85% that the member states' governments wanted.

The Commission argued that the 3.7% - supported by the European Court of Justice - was necessary because of inflation and a loss of purchasing power in Brussels.

But the latest pay rise for EU officials was only 0.1%, while inflation in Brussels stood at 2.4%, the Commission says"