Christmas has come early to Brussels’ beleaguered eurocrats, thanks to a ruling from the European Court of Justice. After months of deliberation, the ECJ sided with EU staff in their pay dispute with member states.

Specifically, the court found that Scrooge-like member states overstepped their powers when they sought to cut in half a 3.7 per cent pay raise due thousands of diplomats and staff at the European institutions for 2009.

Civil servant pay is a touchy subject in Brussels, where eurocrats have long had to endure taunts that they are first-class passengers on a champagne-soaked and caviar-laden gravy train. But it has arguably never been so sensitive, given the bleak age of austerity now dawning across Europe. Read more