Can pay, don't have to pay, as champagne flows for members of Europe's most lucrative club.

FEW people in public life enjoy the champagne lifestyle of the European Commissioners.

Paid pounds 150,000 a year - more than most prime ministers - they live high on the hog at the expense of taxpayers across the Continent.

And they get eight weeks' paid holiday a year to recover from the strains and stresses of coping with such luxury.

But that is just the start of the perks for the lucky members of one of Europe's most exclusive - and lucrative - clubs.

Commissioners are entitled to tax-free deals and allowances, which can top up their salaries by as much as pounds 100,000.

Each is entitled to pounds 24,000 a year to spend on a housekeeper, cook, or butler at their private residence.

Then there's another pounds 7000 a year in entertainment allowances.

Married commissioners automatically get their salaries boosted by an extra five per cent to cover the cost of bringing up a family.

Their children's school fees are paid for them and they get a pounds 250-a-month grant for every child in full-time education up to the age of 26. Each EC commissioner has two chauffeurs and two limousines, one on permanent standby in case the other breaks down.

They don't even have to worry about paying the mortgage because, despite massive pay packets, their housing costs are also picked up by the taxpayer.

Pressed to explain such an extraordinary situation, an EU spokesman said: "They have to maintain stylish homes where they can entertain dignitaries in a fitting way."

It is an explanation that neatly side-steps the fact most people could easily expect to be able to entertain lavishly with eight weeks' holiday a year andpounds 150,000tospend.Mostofthe commissioners live in the exclusive Brussels suburbs of Uccle and Ixelles, where rents can reach pounds 2000 a month. It is left to former Labour leader Neil Kinnock to live in a modest terrace house in a backstreet within walking distance of EU headquarters,where each commissioner occupies a suite of offices. Restaurants and bars in the area charge prices afford able only to Euro officials,with a pint of beer costing pounds 3 or more. Commissioner shave another allowance to furnish the offices to their own taste with works of art and expensive carpets. Mr Kinnock, for example, works from a large ninth-floor office decorated with model cars and planes.

He has his own secretary and a seven-member cabinet, each with their own secretaries in offices along the same floor.

Commissioners eat in their own restaurant - with meals cooked by a Belgian chef with a Michelin star rating, Michel Addons.

Each day he cooks the very best food the EU can offer - prime beef, new potatoes from Flanders, Tuscan vegetables and pate from Strasbourg.

Air and train travel is always first-class, and private planes are on standby at the executive-jet section of Brussels Airport.

Even out of office, the good life continues.Commissioner enjoy a pension paid a tdouble the rate of the rest of Europe's civil servants. And they get 70 per cent of their full salary for two years after leaving office to help them adjust to looking for work. Then there are the EuroMPs, whose vote of censure brought about the commissioners' resignations. They themselves pick up thousands of pounds in lavish expenses. Each MEP is paid the same salary a sa member of their own country's parliamentpounds 45,066 a year for the British contingent. But they can dwarf that withan extraordinary expenses scheme, deemed by many to be little more than a licence to print money. Many make thousands of pounds simply on their travel costs from their constituencies to the Strasbourg parliament.

MEPs are entitled to claim the full business or club class air fare for all journeys - even when they fly economy.

They can simply pocket the difference - often as much as pounds 300 - with not even a receipt required.

The MEPs receive pounds 26,400 for annual office costs and a massive pounds 80,400 a year to employ assistants and researchers.

But many critics argue that expenses are just the tip of the iceberg, with many MEPs attending a constant round of free lunches and suppers, making the most of the generous corporate hospitality at the parliament.