A decision by the European Parliament’s budget committee to approve the rental of a new building in Strasbourg has left-wing and federalist MEPs complaining of excessive EU waste. The whole transaction has been blamed on a French desire to influence EU decision-making.
French MEPs were crucial in securing the 26 to 11 vote in the committee Wednesday, July 19th, to rent 15,000 square metres of office space from French local authorities in Strasbourg as part of a 99-year lease after Parliament refused to purchase the building in question outright.
The decision has been labelled as almost entirely needless by many MEPs, while French authorities are heavily subsidising the building to secure its location on French soil. The European Parliament famously has offices at three locations: Brussels, Strasbourg, and Luxembourg. This arrangement is seen by many as a way to placate the French, who want to have the EU capital partially on their territory.
During committee proceedings, parliamentary officials confirmed to Latvian S&D MEP Nils Ušakovs that they had not fully examined the proposed French contract for the building, which will cost European taxpayers just shy of €2 million annually when all costs are included.
Ušakovs told the committee that there could be many unforeseen costs to the building as Volt MEP Damian Boeselager tweeted that the new arrangement would only add to the “circus” of MEPs travelling to Strasbourg each month.
The decision by the committee has been welcomed by both a cross-partisan group of French MEPs as well as municipal authorities in Strasbourg anxious to safeguard the city’s role in EU decision-making. The French were accused of stacking the committee vote in their favour after multiple French MEPs were drafted at the last minute, including the former mayor of Strasbourg Fabienne Keller, now a Renew MEP.
The new Strasbourg building is expected to hold 700 employees and has been criticised as being almost entirely unsuited for the job due to its lack of adequate meeting rooms.
Inordinate French influence in steering EU policy was also evident this week, as objections from Paris forced American Fiona Scott Morton to withdraw her candidacy for the position of directorate-general for competition in the European Commission. France fears growing Anglo-American influence on the bloc, and has often been accused of attempting to style the EU in its image since its very foundation.
