By Martin Banks - 13th December 2011
We are trying to find the best solution possible
Greens source
The arrival of 18 new MEPs in Strasbourg has been marked by an alleged shortage of space to accommodate them.
Group officials have admitted that some of the new arrivals will not obtain offices in the same area as their national and group delegations because of limited space in parliament's main buildings.
"We are trying to find the best solution possible, but not all MEPs will be close together," one official from the Green/EFA political group told this website on Tuesday.
In an effort to resolve the problem, members of the budget committee on Monday gave the go-ahead to the purchase of three buildings for parliament and the European Ombudsman valued at about €109m.
The three buildings, two in Brussels and one in Strasbourg, are being bought partly to house the new MEPs and their parliamentary staff.
The three buildings are on rue Montoyer, Brussels and another one to be built close to the parliament in Brussels, plus the Council of Europe building adjacent to the parliament in Strasbourg.
Parliament officials said that €10.6m had been set aside from this year's budget to pay for the additional MEPs, covering their salaries, office allowances and travel costs.
However, the purchase of the new buildings was criticised by UKIP member Marta Andresen, a member of the budget committee.
The additional MEPs formally took up seats in parliament on Monday in Strasbourg, the final plenary session of the year.
Ten of the 18 arrived in Brussels on 1 December.
They were legally allowed to assume their mandates on 1 December, when changes to a protocol in the EU's Lisbon treaty came into force after all EU member states completed the ratification process.
Member states decided in December 2008 that parliament's size should be increased temporarily, but it was only last June when they altered a treaty protocol to increase the number of MEPs from 736 to 754.
At the next parliamentary elections, in 2014, the number will be cut to 751, the limit set by the treaty. Germany will lose three of its MEPs with the change.
The arrival of the MEPs means that the Greens will become the fourth-largest group in parliament, overtaking the European Conservatives and Reformists (ECR).
The Greens will gain two MEPs, one from France and one from Sweden, increasing their total to 58, while the ECR, which will gain one MEP, from the UK, will have 57.
The change will not give the Greens any additional posts, but they will be allowed to speak before the ECR group in plenary debates and group meetings.
Eight of the 18 extra MEPs will sit with the centre-right European People's Party (EPP), while the centre-left Socialists and Democrats (S&D) group gains five new members.
The remaining two MEPs will sit with the non-attached group of MEPs.
