The European Parliament has overspent its translation budget by millions of euros, prompting accusations that the EU is continuing to waste taxpayers' money on vanity projects and bureaucracy.
Accounts obtained by the Daily Telegraph show the parliament's in-house translation unit is set to exceed its annual €8.2m (£7.5m) budget by €3.4m (£3.1m) this year. As part of its commitment to multilingualism, all major reports and official documents must be translated into each of the EU's 24 official languages. Private translators charge an average of €21.91 (£20.27) per page. Irish is the most expensive language to translate, costing up to €42 (£39) a page.
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