By Martin Banks - 24th February 2009
Renovation is absolutely necessary
EU parliament spokesman
European parliament bosses have angrily hit back at claims that it plans to "waste" €8.1m on a state-of-the-art new sports gym for MEPs.
A spokesman for the institution moved to "dispel some of the myths" surrounding the story, which first surfaced in the Daily Telegraph newspaper last week.
The spokesman said, "Let's be clear about this. There is a proposal - and that is all it is - to renovate and extend the existing gymnasium in parliament.
"The total cost of this, however, will come to less than the €8m reported. It should also be stressed that, if approved, the cost to parliament will be €4.1m."
'It should also be pointed out that renovation is absolutely necessary because of the current physical condition of the facility.
"No decision on this proposal has yet been made and it is wrong to suggest, as has been done, that it is only for use by MEPs.
"The fact is that the most frequent users are parliamentary staff, not MEPs."
UK Tory deputy Richard Ashworth said last week that his colleagues should "dream on" if they thought taxpayers should pay out for the new facility.
"This is not appropriate at the present time," said Ashworth, a member of parliament's budget committee.
Meanwhile, closed circuit TV cameras footage has failed to shed any light on the identity of an armed robber who stole an estimated €50,000 from the ING bank in parliament two weeks ago.
A parliament spokesman said, "The footage has been closely studied but, unfortunately, it has not helped us much."
He said security had been tightened but refused to be drawn on what measures had been taken.
The man is thought to have used a pistol in the raid on 12 February after he evaded parliament's security staff.
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