An Italian woman working part-time for one of the EU institutions, used to run Eurosingles, a dating website for EU officials. ‘It’s not because you are good at a high-powered job that you have the necessary confidence to find a soulmate.’ A few years ago, the site’s clients got upset after many of their dates appeared to be ‘gold-diggers’ – people trying to exploit the unattached single EU officials’ sizeable salaries.

So, they changed the rules – only EU staff, or those sponsored by an official, could use the site – basically guaranteeing EU official exclusivity. Women members said they were misled by married men using the website. One of the members explained the problem as follows: ‘A woman official might be approached by a local man earning half her salary,’ ‘They strike up a relationship and soon they want to go to Barcelona for the weekend, but the man says, ‘It’s too expensive, can you pay for me?’ Later, when the woman suggests they live together, she finds out he has a wife.’