STRASBOURG — Senior MEPs are contemplating a suggestion from French Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne to lease a brand new workplace block for €700,000 per 12 months that might solidify her nation’s grip on the European Parliament’s controversial second residence.
In a letter that Borne despatched to Parliament’s President Roberta Metsola on Could 3, seen by POLITICO, the French authorities supplied to lease out a model new Osmose workplace block to the European Parliament after shopping for it in an elaborate scheme that might price French taxpayers tens of thousands and thousands of euros.
The French letter frames the proposal as “for the advantage of the European Parliament” and an “advantageous supply,” however whether or not or not that’s true, if accepted, it might be a serious win for the French authorities, as it might cement the EU chamber’s presence within the metropolis.
The so-called Osmose constructing is a state-of-the-art workplace block that boasts 15,000m2 of house, not removed from the Parliament’s hemicycle in Strasbourg.
A whole bunch of MEPs fly into Strasbourg — the Parliament’s official seat in keeping with the EU treaties — for 4 days every month for a whistle-stop tour of voting and negotiations. However most EU officers, MEPs and parliamentary assistants spend nearly all of their time within the Belgian capital Brussels, the place the opposite two important EU establishments are based mostly.
Below Borne’s plan, after buying the constructing, the French state would then lease out the constructing on a 99-year lease, on what Borne known as “beneficial monetary phrases,” of €700,000 per 12 months. Borne wrote that an estimated yet-to-be-confirmed market rental price that such a constructing might command was €3,400,000.
As reported by POLITICO’s Brussels Playbook on Tuesday, Metsola and the 14 vice presidents of the European Parliament mentioned the proposal at a closed-door assembly Monday night time, however didn’t attain a call on whether or not to just accept the supply.
“The French State is able to make an additional funding and to buy the Osmose constructing within the subsequent few months,” Borne wrote within the letter.
Borne mentioned the acquisition could be at market worth and her letter didn’t point out a price ticket for getting Osmose. This might nonetheless imply a considerable funding for French taxpayers, as France solely owned a 49 p.c share within the €57.2 million constructing in 2021, in keeping with official paperwork.
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Some within the Parliament sound constructive concerning the French supply. “The French got here again with a suggestion to lease, which is extraordinarily advantageous. We’ve got an evaluation that has been made exhibiting we want house,” mentioned an EU official, who requested to not be recognized as they aren’t licensed to talk publicly.
“Whereas negotiations nonetheless have to start out on the main points, what’s on the desk is an effective touchdown zone that balances wants with prices,” the official added.
The highest 15 MEPs who meet within the Parliament’s so-called bureau — the chamber’s high inner decision-making physique — are prone to return to the topic in June, having tasked Secretary Common Alessandro Chiocchetti with discovering out extra particulars concerning the French plan.
MEPs who attended the assembly sounded hesitant.
“The debates will certainly proceed,” mentioned Czech Inexperienced MEP Marcel Kolaja, who was current in his function as quaestor, which means he works on monetary and administrative issues. “My political group has issues over the effectivity of the associated fee. There have been questions raised by quite a few vice presidents throughout the board,” he advised POLITICO.
“I’m not saying it’s a dangerous value for the supply. The query is that if that supply fits the wants of the European Parliament, as a result of one mustn’t settle for affords simply because they’re good. Additionally they want to suit your wants.”
Rainer Wieland, an influential MEP from the European Folks’s Social gathering, mentioned as he left the assembly on Monday night time: “We’ve got to scrutinize it.”
Different MEPs are adamant that the Parliament mustn’t contact the French supply. “We don’t want this constructing,” mentioned Daniel Freund, a German Inexperienced MEP who’s his group’s lead on an ongoing audit of the Parliament’s 2021 finances. “We shouldn’t purchase it. We shouldn’t lease it. We shouldn’t take it as a present,” he wrote to POLITICO in a press release.
“The precise clauses of the lease will in fact should be set out in full at a later date,” Borne wrote towards the top of the letter, including that she hopes it should obtain a good response.
MEP Stéphane Séjourné, who leads the liberal Renew group that’s aligned with French President Emmanuel Macron, declined to remark when requested concerning the Osmose supply at a press convention.
“I’ll be easy within the non-response I’m going to provide you,” he advised reporters in Strasbourg. “I’ve determined to take away myself from this topic being French and the pinnacle of a bunch with 103 MEPs and 25 nationalities,” he mentioned, including that it’s not a query for him however for the Parliament’s president and 14 vice presidents.
Advanced challenge
Strasbourg’s Mayor Jeanne Barseghian put a constructive spin on the constructing in an interview with POLITICO that happened in April earlier than the French authorities supply got here in, saying the constructing represents “an additional risk for the European Parliament and even for the opposite establishments as a result of it could possibly be used for trilogues” — negotiations between the EU establishments on laws.
Presently, the Parliament is having to lease out further house in Strasbourg from the Council of Europe, which isn’t an EU physique, in an effort to have sufficient workspace.
“The Osmose constructing is as much as the newest environmental requirements,” mentioned Barseghian, who’s a Inexperienced politician. She even floated the notion that the EU establishment might purchase the constructing outright.
The Osmose advanced was anticipated to deliver €3.1 million to homeowners, Icade, a French property group, and Caisse des Dépôts, the French public sector monetary establishment, in keeping with earlier official estimates, and assist France keep the EU Parliament’s presence in its japanese metropolis. Most of its buildings have remained empty because it first opened in 2021.
Paris had first urged Metsola to purchase the Osmose constructing, and there had been discuss final 12 months, which has since died approach, to retrofit one of many Parliament’s present buildings right into a lodge.
The French everlasting illustration to the EU, the French international affairs ministry and the French prime minister’s workplace didn’t reply to requests for remark.
