UK taxpayers footing £187m bill to boost fatcat Euro MPs' pensions #CarryGobySeanKellz #FutureGroupNG via @i_amreginaldjr

TAXPAYERS face having to plug a £187million black hole in a gold-plated second ­pension fund for Euro MPs, it emerged yesterday.

MEPs can rake in a second pension fund to boost retirement income up to £82,000-a-year [GETTY]

Details of the secretive scheme, which can add tens of thousands a year to a retired MEP’s income and contribute towards a combined pension of up to £82,000 a year for the longest-serving, sparked outrage.

All the main UK parties in Brussels insist the funding gap should be met without more public money. But legal documents suggest taxpayers will have to fork out.

Nearly 40 of Britain’s 73 serving MEPs are understood to be members of the Parliament’s Additional Voluntary Pension Scheme.

Membership can net an MEP as much as £41,000 a year on top of the main taxpayer-funded basic EU pension of £13,760 a year for five years’ service.

Closed to new entrants in 2009 to curb costs 15 years after it was created by a group of MEPs led by Britons, the scheme’s “actuarial deficit” – the gap between assets and pay-outs – rose £60million in 2012, leaving it £187million short.

For every £982 a month that members pay in, taxpayers pay double, or £1,964 a month.

British taxpayers have already contributed more than £100million.

Official estimates now expect the fund to be bust by 2026 at the latest.

This is a perfect example of the grotesque self-serving extravagance of the EU

Tory MP Philip Davies

Tory MP Philip Davies said: “This is a perfect example of the grotesque self-serving extravagance of the EU.

“At the same time as EU politicians have created ­economic misery for millions across the eurozone countries, they have shamelessly lined their own pockets at the expense of us all.

“This is yet another on the long list of reasons why we should leave the EU.”

Jonathan Isaby, chief executive of the TaxPayers’ Alliance, said: “It’s not fair when taxpayers are expected to foot the bills for unaffordable public sector pensions, whether they originate from Whitehall or Brussels.”

Some MEPs say they turned down invitations to join the second pension scheme because they felt it was unfair to taxpayers.

Members include ­senior Tory, Labour and Lib Dem MEPs and UK Independence Party leader Nigel Farage.

The Open Europe pro-reform think tank said: “This scheme is one of the most objectionable creations to come out of the EU.”