Subsidised EU creche matches fees for Eton

European Union civil servants are building a subsidised creche for their infant children in Brussels.

It will cost more than £20,000 (Dh140,516) a head, per year — or very nearly as much as a year’s fees at Eton.

The 180-place creche is due to open next year, but its sky-high fees are already raising eyebrows in Brussels.

Even hardened Eurocrats, who are used to generous living at the expense of EU taxpayers, have been startled by the revelation that the budgeted cost per child of the new creche is 29,000 euros (Dh141,855) a year, or £20,570 (Dh144,521).

A year’s fees at Eton College cost £22,380 (Dh157,237).

Fees at private, commercially run creches in Brussels are far lower, at between £4,000 (Dh28,103) and £6,000 (Dh42,154) a year per child.

Fees at public creches are lower still, but places are extremely hard to come by, and waiting lists long.

The creche is being built by the Council of the European Union, the main decision making body of the EU, which is made up of government ministers from each member state, and run by a rotating presidency, currently held by Luxembourg.

Tax payers burdenedBoth the presidency, and national ministers and officials visiting Brussels for summits and meetings are supported by a permanent general secretariat, whose civil servants will be the main beneficiaries of the new daycare facility.

General Secretariat civil servants have previously sent their toddlers to facilities run by the European Commission and European Parliament.

However, with the rapid expansion of the EU, which grew by 10 nations last year, the Council decided to build its own facility.

Parents who work at the Council will only be expected to pay between £2,900 (Dh20,374) and £3,500 (Dh24,590) a year for each child they send to the creche, thanks to subsidies from their employer ultimately provided by the EU tax payer.

The facility will also make places available to the children of diplomats posted to “permanent representations”, or quasi-embassies, of member states in Brussels, as well as to the children of officials working at other EU institutions.

But they — or their employers — will have to pay the full £20,000 a year.