David
Sumberg MEP
Date: 04/04/2006
Conservative MEP demands Euro Parl ends waste of NW taxpayers cash
A North West MEP says the European Union must press ahead with a deal to abandon its Strasbourg parliament which he claims is a 'running sore' on taxpayers cash.
Conservative David Sumberg, the former Bury South MP, has been a fierce critic of the so called 'travelling circus' which see all 3000 MEPs and their staff transfer from Brussels to Strasbourg for one week once a month - at a cost of 140m to the European taxpayer.
Mr Sumberg says he is supporting a 'face saving deal' for the French President Jaques Chirac under which France would be offered a new technology institute - to be housed in the Strasbourg parliament building - in exchange for the EU leaving the assembly as a seat of power.
"This white elephant easily towers over Holyrood, Pickets Lock and the Millennium Dome put together,' he said. "It is high time this appalling and pointless waste of taxpayers cash came to an end. France has been allowed to dig in against all attempts to shift Strasbourg, seeing it as a question of national prestige. Now, at last, we have a proposal which can save gallic pride and more importantly provide a better deal for taxpayers. I, and my Conservative colleagues, will be pushing hard for this deal to be clinched."NOTE:
Core funding for science, technology and research could be found from the savings of axing the European Parliament's monthly Brussels-Strasbourg commute. That would help Europe establish a rival to the USA's Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
Under the plan, Strasbourg would become the site of a new European Institute of Technology (EIT), helping boost the role of the city as an international centre of technology and learning. In addition, Strasbourg could be home to a new European Research Council or, alternatively, the venue for summits of EU heads of government. In return, the European Parliament would spend all its time in its Brussels building.
The EIT plan is said to have the support of Nicolas Sarkozy, a likely contender in the French presidential elections next year.