Leaders want to pay for buildings

The leadership of the European Parliament is pressing for the assembly to pay almost €145 million for three buildings in Strasbourg in a bid to end the dispute over hidden rental payments to the city.

MEPs in charge of controlling the Parliament’s spending are expected to back the move but want to complete their examination of a series of reports into the affair before giving final approval.

The Parliament’s budgetary control committee will on Tuesday (12 September)?discuss the results of inquiries by the European Court of Auditors and by a temporary committee of MEPs.

Josep Borrell, the Parliament’s president, and the bureau of vice-presidents want to buy two buildings in Strasbourg, the Winston Churchill (WIC) and Salvador da Madariaga (SDM), which have been at the centre of the row about excessive rent, plus a third office block, known as IPE3, for €143.125m.

Jan Mulder, a member of the budgetary control committee, said: "If you compare €143 million with the €136m we would have paid for the two buildings it’s a good deal. Compared to the €15m we’re paying in rent at the moment we’ll have paid it off in seven to eight years."

French Green MEP Gérard Onesta, a member of the bureau who is in charge of buildings policy, said the French government had made a contribution to the city of Strasbourg to ease the way for a deal between the city and the Parliament.

A report for the French government by Yves Jégoux, a professor in urban studies who was asked to arbitrate in the dispute between the city of Strasbourg and the Parliament, concludes that, though the Parliament had been over-paying in its rent for the WIC and SDM buildings, this was down to poor administrative controls rather than wilful deceit. The report said that the over-payment, estimated to be around €80m over the last 25 years, "disadvantaged" the Parliament but was not high enough to call into question the contract’s "legal validity".

Originally, the city was claiming €29m of a €136m price to buy the two buildings as compensation for lost rental income until the current lease expires in 2047.

UK centre-right MEP Edward McMillan-Scott, a member of the bureau, said: "Strasbourg’s days [as the seat of the Parliament] are numbered and I believe such a purchase would be unwise." The Parliament should re-negotiate the rent instead, he said. The bureau was meeting yesterday evening (6 September) to discuss the issue.

The leadership of the European Parliament is pressing for the assembly to pay almost €145 million for three buildings in Strasbourg in a bid to end the dispute over hidden rental payments to the city.

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