MEPs freeze their budget and cut €180m Strasbourg trips
However, despite an overwhelming vote in favour of keeping the parliament permanently in Brussels, member states, and France in particular, said ‘non’.
Seán Kelly, the Ireland South MEP, said they should employ an external auditor to produce a report on the entire costs of the parliament, its €1.6bn budget and 6,000 staff.
Mr Kelly said: “The feedback could lead to new cost-saving innovations that we may be overlooking. The EU is constantly revising how our institutions function to save the taxpayer money, but sometimes an outsider’s perspective can show things in a new light.”
He welcomed the proposal to freeze the budget for the next two years, increasing it only by the cost of inflation, which could mean an increase of up to 2%.
MEPs also agreed their allowances will not increase for the rest of their mandate to mid-2014.
The travel budget for this year will be cut by 5%. However, Mr Kelly said €180m a year could be saved at one stroke if they abolished the Strasbourg week.
“I understand the monthly plenary session is of huge economic importance to France, but in these difficult, austere times, we need to look at the big picture,” he said.
It would mean 317 full-time jobs could be abolished and 19,000 tonnes of CO² would be saved every year.
The €4m bill for cleaning the parliament’s building in Strasbourg would also be eliminated, the MEP added.
There was a clear majority in favour of this, with 329 MEPs voting in favour and 223 against during their plenary session in Strasbourg yesterday.
Calls for a budget cut of 10% next year, which are being led by the Eurosceptic British UKIP group, were not voted on.
UKIP member Marta Andreasen claimed expenses for MEPs had increased by 160% over the past four years and funds for European political groups and foundations is now €30m a year — an increase of 176%.
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