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EU presidents Jean-Claude Juncker and Donald Tusk are the main benefactors of the 1.5 percent pay increase handed out to the bloc’s officials. This means the bloc’ officials will earn more than €20,000 (£18,000) month for the first time after EU salaries and pensions were increased retroactively from July 1 this year. Mr Juncker, the EU Commission President, will pocket €550 more to increase his monthly around €32,700 a month.

The top eurocrat’s increase, which is meant to cover the cost of living, means he will earn €6,600 extra a year. Mr Tusk, the EU Council President, will also receive the same pay hike as one of the bloc’s most senior officials. Mr Juncker’s team of EU Commissioners, including Britain’s Julian King, will earn around €26,600 a month, about €400 more including their allowances. The six Commission vice-presidents will be entitled to slightly more as their basic monthly income increases around €500 to around €30,800.

EU news: Top eurocrats receive bumper Christmas pay rise out of taxpayers' pocket

Michel Barnier, the EU’s Brexit negotiator, and Martin Selmayr the Commission’s secretary-general, nicknamed the ‘Monster of Brussels’, will also be handed hefty pay rises. EU officials’ salaries are split into 16 grades and after serving two years in a post their salaries are instantly increased up a step. Director-generals of Commission departments will earn a monthly basic income of more than €20,000 for the first time if they find themselves on the third step. The annual increases are calculated by Eurostat, the EU’s statistics agency, based on the cost of living in Belgium and Luxembourg, where over 80 percent of officials work, and on wages of bureaucrats in other EU countries.

This year pay was increased 1.7 percent, which is up from last year’s pay rise of 1.5 percent. But the Commission argues that its powerful Brussels executives will actually be worse off despite their pay increases. A Commission spokesman said: “In actual fact, there is no ‘increase’ this year. “Given the annual inflation rate of 2.1 percent in Brussels and Luxembourg, where over 80 percent of the EU officials work, the nominal increase of 1.5 percent will actually lead to effective salary reduction in terms of purchasing power by 0.6 percent.”