Laszlo Andor, the EU Commissioner is taking the UK to the European Court

Laszlo Andor, one of Europe’s most powerful technocrats, is a committed socialist determined to drag the UK through the courts over welfare laws.

Mr Andor, 47, holds one of the most powerful positions in the European Union as Commissioner for Employment, Social Affairs and Inclusion, a job that provides a £212,000 salary and generous benefits. His role gives him political, legal and bureaucratic muscle — and Mr Andor, probably the most Left-wing of the EU’s 28 commissioners, is not averse to using it.

Now he is taking on the British Government over attempts to curb welfare payments to EU migrants. His report into benefits tourism, which we disclose today, effectively concluding that the practice was a myth, can be seen as part of the battle. But it is his decision to take action at the European Court against the UK which opens him up to accusations of “throwing a hand grenade” into an already incendiary debate about Britain’s continued membership of the EU.

Mr Andor’s spokesman last week insisted that the Commissioner was – despite his actions – “a great Anglophile” and not a former communist, despite him once launching a defence of life in the Soviet Bloc.
The Commissioner has lived in both Manchester and London, and is even partial to a particular Kent-brewed ale, his spokesman added.

He once wrote to The Guardian defending the Soviet Bloc, saying that “the relative prosperity of the 1960s and 1970s should not be ignored”. Mr Andor’s spokesman said he was frustrated at British attitudes towards the EU and especially eastern Europeans. “He often points to the facilities built for the Olympic Games at London 2012. They would not have been built on time if it hadn’t been for workers from central and eastern Europe,” said the spokesman.

Source: The Telegraph