Monday October 1,2012
By Alison Little

THE “absurd” situation of having two headquarters for the European Parliament in different countries at the cost of taxpayers sparked outrage yesterday.
Research and internal reports revealed it will cost more than £150million a year to move 736 MEPs, officials and papers from Brussels in Belgium to Strasbourg in France each month.

The Strasbourg base is kept fully staffed and maintained despite being used for just 48 days a year.

Earlier this year the parliament voted to end the “travelling circus” and make Brussels its permanent home.

But France blocked the change, refusing to give up a concession they won from the EU in 1992, promising 12 sessions a year in Strasbourg.

As well as the status of having meetings in France, the arrangement is said to be worth some £175million a year to Strasbourg’s hotels and restaurants.

Lib Dem MEP Edward McMillan-Scott, who is campaigning to scrap the Strasbourg seat, said:

With the EU being a byword for waste and inefficiency, the public will no longer tolerate this anomaly and the French will have to accept that their game is up.”

Pieter Cleppe, of the pro-reform thinktank Open Europe said:

“It is time that common sense prevailed over this absurd situation, which continues to cost taxpayers millions every year.”

Sittings in Strasbourg have been heavily criticised by British euro-MPs.

There are no direct flights there from Britain, and other countries’ representatives face similar problems reaching it.

The monthly 440-mile round trip between Brussels and Strasbourg costs British taxpayers the equivalent of £28million a year.

It also enrages green-minded MEPs by generating nearly 20,000 tons of CO2 emissions annually.

The waste of taxpayers’ cash in running two headquarters for the parliament is a prime example of the sort of profligacy which the Daily Express has highlighted in our crusade to get Britain out of the EU.

Other EU institutions are also keen to acquire lavish new homes for themselves whenever they get the opportunity.

In 2011 David Cameron was moved to lash out at what he called the “gilded cage” proposed by EU president Herman Van Rompuy to house his own presidential office and host Brussels summits.

Mr Cameron was outraged when Mr Van Rompuy proudly presented a glossy brochure about the £280million building at a meeting of EU leaders, which had been called to discuss harsh austerity cuts for Greece.

http://www.express.co.uk/posts/view/349278/Outrage-at-1bn-cost-of-EU-s-travelling-circus-