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MEP Demands NO Return to Strasbourg Following Asbestos Discovery
Tuesday, 23rd September 2008 Syed Kamall, MEP for London, has called for the European Parliament to stop using its Strasbourg building after authorities admitted its ventilation ducts contained asbestos. This is the latest problem to hit the building, which is kept alive for one week a month: at a cost of £140m a year. The latest round of problems came about when the roof of the parliament chamber (hemicycle) collapsed in August. Officials later admitted that 77 MEP's, including Syed Kamall, would have been hit by falling masonry. Now the Parliaments General Secretary Harald Romer has admitted that the parliament is contaminated with asbestos. The recent problems have added to demands to end the use of two separate parliament buildings. Something that many MEP's consider to be wasteful. Syed Kamall said: "It would be ridiculous to spend millions taking out all the asbestos, when we don't really need this building anyway. These are hard economic times and I doubt many people would sympathise with the plight of the Strasbourg building. We should pledge now to never go back. There is one good piece of news for taxpayers, the longer Strasbourg is closed the less money will be wasted transporting MEP's, staff and documents on this unnecessary excursion." |