'Save Taxpayers £100 Million A Year By Stopping The Strasbourg Shuffle' Says Hampshire MEP In Reform Bid

11.01.35am UTC (GMT +0000) Wed 5th May 2004

Chris Huhne with Trunks in Strasbourg

Hampshire Liberal Democrat MEP Chris Huhne packed his trunks in Strasbourg this week for the last time of this parliament and said that the shuffle between Brussels and Strasbourg was a ridiculous waste of money.

Mr Huhne said he is hoping to save taxpayers more than £100 million a year by leading a campaign to clean up the European Parliament and put an end to its days as a 'travelling circus' moving between Brussels and Strasbourg.

Chris Huhne is one of the leading MEPs backing the Campaign for Parliament Reform, which now claims the support of 90 parliamentarians from 13 different countries. The group aims to make the work of the European Parliament more open and efficient.

The Liberal Democrat says that a fortune can be saved by ending the monthly movement of more than 3,000 MEPs, assistants and interpreters between Belgium and France. His reform group intends to ask every candidate standing in the European elections in June to pledge themselves to have a single base in Brussels and to vote for changes to ensure that travel expenses are reimbursed at cost.

But although the Strasbourg parliament building is used for only 4 days each month, and stands empty for more than 300 days each year, MEPs are forced to meet there by an international treaty agreed by former Conservative Prime Minister John Major and ratified by the British Parliament.

Mr Huhne accused John Major's successor, Tony Blair, of failing to make reform a priority in his discussions with other EU governments.

He said: "The failure to grapple with wanton waste like the Strasbourg shuffle is a blot on the Government's record. Liberal Democrats want to reform the parliament and the EU to make it work better, precisely because we believe that EU membership helps British peace and prosperity".

"It is ridiculous that taxpayers' money should be wasted by having two separate places to meet when we have a perfectly good parliament building in Brussels at the heart of the European institutions. These arrangements just bring the EU into disrepute"

Mr Huhne said that the Liberal Democrats had proved during this parliament that they were the most reliable reformers of all the British delegations, pushing amendments to EU law and tackling waste. He contrasted the Lib Dem record with the failure of local Tory MEPs to turn up for key votes that had lost important reforms.

Strasbourg sits astride the border between France and Germany and is regarded as a symbol of peace within a once war-torn continent. The current arrangements for the parliament date from a treaty agreed between prime ministers in 1992 at a meeting in Edinburgh.

ENDS