EU to hand us £58m bill to knock down HQ – then rebuild it!
BRITISH taxpayers could be landed with a £ 58million bill before Brexit to demolish the European Parliament base and build another.
MEPs want the £880million Brussels headquarters – used for 24 years – to be razed to the ground so a more spacious alternative can be constructed.
The plans, which will reignite accusations of outlandish spending by European lawmakers, have been ordered because the building does not meet EU safety standards.
Officials have also said it needs to be enlarged to provide more office space for the expanding armies of staff employed by the 751 MEPs.
If the project is approved before Britain cuts ties with Brussels in 2019, the UK would be expected to part-fund it.
Internal documents reveal the total cost of demolishing and rebuilding the ‘dilapidated’ Paul- Henri Spaak building could hit £380million.
The prospect of another expensive construction project to house MEPs will anger Eurosceptics who have long criticised the cost of running multiple headquarters.
It is one of three ‘seats’ of the European Parliament, including the ‘second home’ in Strasbourg that remains unused for most of the year. MEPs and staff travel at huge cost from Belgium to the duplicate French base for a week each month, to satisfy a deal between the EU and France.
A third chamber, in Luxembourg, has not been used by MEPs since 1981.
The Paul-Henri Spaak building – named after a Belgian PM seen as an EU founding father – is known locally as Caprice des Dieux, or ‘whim of the gods’. It was built in 1993 for more than a billion euros.
Concerns about the shoddy condition of the building were raised in 2012 when cracks appeared in the roof of its debating chamber. Inspectors have also drawn attention to persistent leaks and the breakdown of the heating.
Officials have repeatedly said the ‘lifespan’ of the centre will come to an end in 2019.
Provisional plans for the demolition and rebuilding were presented to the parliament’s ‘bureau’ by secretary general Klaus Welle last night.
He said in a note that alternative proposals to refurbish would prove ‘extremely’ complicated and expensive.
In a note to the group of high-level MEPs, he urged them to back plans to destroy their base and build a new one despite the huge cost to taxpayers across Europe. He said: ‘Any structure that does not have the requisite degree of robustness will behave like a line of dominoes. When an accidental event occurs, the destruction of a given element will result in the destruction of the surrounding elements … until a large part/all of the structure is destroyed.’
He added: ‘The administration recommends that the structure should be rebuilt rather than reinforced.’
The official said this would ensure the building meets European safety standards, and satisfy ‘all of parliament’s operation requirements’.
Ukip MEP Jonathan Arnott, who sits on the committee that polices the parliament’s budget, said: ‘How about we tear the whole thing down and don’t bother rebuilding at all.
‘Why should taxpayers have to pay for MEPs to live in such salubrious surroundings?’
A decision on whether to rubber-stamp the project was not thought to have been taken at last night’s meeting.
Any decision would have to be considered by a number of EU bodies, including the budget scrutiny committee.
Among problems highlighted in the Paul-Henri Spaak building were long waits for lifts and furniture that does not fit the needs of MEPs and staff.
Previous proposals by senior EU officials have called for MEPs to be provided with ‘optimum working conditions’ in a new building.