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Scrap Strasbourg 'Circus' Urges Kirkhope
Strasbourg, 24th March 2009
Yorkshire Conservative MEP Timothy Kirkhope used the occasion of Gordon Brown's visit to the European Parliament to demand he force an end to the European Parliament's profligate two-seat operation.
Twelve times a year the European Parliament decamps from Brussels and relocates 250 miles away in Strasbourg - on the Franco-German border. The so-called 'travelling circus' costs the taxpayer around 180 million a year and causes tens of thousands of tonnes of CO2 to be emitted into the atmosphere unnecessarily.
The two-seat operation is enshrined in the treaties of the European Union, meaning that MEPs are not able to change the arrangement. Only national governments can rewrite the treaties and, so far, Gordon Brown has failed to put the issue on the table at a European summit.
Conservative leader in the European Parliament, Timothy Kirkhope, wrote to Gordon Brown last week asking him to place the issue of the Strasbourg waste on the agenda of the EU summit last Friday - in the place of yet another discussion on how the EU's leaders could circumvent the voters and force through the Lisbon Treaty.
The PM was in Strasbourg to lecture MEPs on the global economic situation ahead of the G20 summit. Mr Brown failed to mention in his speech that Britain's recession will now be - according to the IMF - one of the deepest and longest in the world, thanks largely to his policies as Chancellor.
Timothy Kirkhope MEP said:
"Moving the European Parliament from one country to another is completely pointless and a huge waste of taxpayers' money. There is no practical reason why we should go to Strasbourg as we have all the facilities we need in Brussels.
"The two-seat operation of the European Parliament is a small amount of money compared to the vast debts being run up by our government this year, which are now larger than the entire EU budget; but scrapping it would send an important message that the EU is serious about cutting waste.
"Conservative MEPs have led the campaign against the Strasbourg parliament. It is time for Gordon Brown to finally raise the issue with his European counterparts and demand they end this profligacy.
"We need strong leadership from our Prime Minister if we are to end this unacceptable situation. For all his bluster and lecturing on the economy, he has failed to seize on one important piece of waste in the EU budget that could be slashed tomorrow."
ENDS
