By Martin Banks - 16th February 2012
All MEP allowances should be frozen until 2014
George Lyon
Senior ALDE MEP George Lyon has called for MEP allowances to be frozen until the end of the current legislature in 2014.
Lyon, deputy chairman of parliament's budget committee, is also calling for a curb on MEP travel costs and a freeze on administrative spending for all EU institutions.
His demand comes as MEPs, meeting in Strasbourg, began preliminary discussions on the EU's 2013 budget.
Some MEPs are seeking an inflationary increase of between 1.9 and three per cent on the budget.
Commenting ahead of a vote on Thursday on the budget guidelines Lyon said, "At this time of national austerity and budget consolidation, the EU budget needs to be shaken up and restructured to get rid of inefficiencies and waste.
"MEPs need to lead the way in identifying and making important savings."
He added, "All MEP allowances should be frozen until 2014 and we must cap the travel budget at its present level. We must make our money travel further.
"It is also time we had an independent and thorough evaluation of parliament's budget to make sure that it delivers value for money. For the time being, I want to see a freeze in administrative spending of all EU institutions."
MEPs receive a range of allowances including the cost of travel, staff and office expenses.
The MEP went on to argue that a major saving within parliament's budget would be the adoption of a single seat for the assembly in Brussels.
He added, "I urge all MEPs to vote for a cross-party amendment for a single seat of parliament. We need to send a strong signal to member states that it is time to end the travelling circus between Brussels and Strasbourg. It is down to national capitals that we are still spending around €190m a year on pointless trips between those two cities. This wasteful practice must end now."
Further comment came from UKIP MEP Marta Andreasen who suggests a cut to the budget of "at least" 10 per cent.
She said, "Once again parliament is showing its detachment from its citizens.
"In the middle of this crisis where citizens in Europe are being told by the EU to face drastic cuts, this house still thinks it has the right to ask for an inflationary increase.
"It cannot even agree what this increase should be. Whether it is 1.9 per cent or three per cent is irrelevant: The EU bureaucracy is already bloated. It needs to go on a hard diet."
She says that entertainment and other expenses for MEPs have grown by 160 per cent in the last four years while funding for European political parties and foundations has increased by 176 per cent to €30m a year.
The UK deputy says that the house of European history - expected to cost in excess of €50m with running costs of more than €1m per annum - should be scrapped.
