STRASBOURG — Senior MEPs are contemplating a suggestion from French Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne to lease a brand new workplace block for €700,000 per yr that will solidify her nation’s grip on the European Parliament’s controversial second house.
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 would price French taxpayers tens of thousands and thousands of euros.
The French letter frames the proposal as “for the good thing about the European Parliament” and an “advantageous provide,” however whether or not or not that’s true, if accepted, it could be a serious win for the French authorities, as it could 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 area, not removed from the Parliament’s hemicycle in Strasbourg.
Tons of of MEPs fly into Strasbourg — the Parliament’s official seat in line 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 primary EU establishments are primarily based.
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 yr. Borne wrote that an estimated yet-to-be-confirmed market rental charge that such a constructing may 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 choice on whether or not to just accept the provide.
“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 stated the acquisition can be at market worth and her letter didn’t point out a price ticket for purchasing Osmose. This may nonetheless imply a considerable funding for French taxpayers, as France solely owned a 49 % share within the €57.2 million constructing in 2021, in line with official paperwork.
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Some within the Parliament sound optimistic in regards to the French provide. “The French got here again with a suggestion to lease, which is extraordinarily advantageous. Now we have an evaluation that has been made exhibiting we want area,” stated an EU official, who requested to not be recognized as they aren’t licensed to talk publicly.
“Whereas negotiations nonetheless have to begin on the main points, what’s on the desk is an efficient 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 prime inside decision-making physique — are more likely to return to the topic in June, having tasked Secretary Basic Alessandro Chiocchetti with discovering out extra particulars in regards to the French plan.
MEPs who attended the assembly sounded hesitant.
“The debates will certainly proceed,” stated Czech Inexperienced MEP Marcel Kolaja, who was current in his function as quaestor, that means he works on monetary and administrative issues. “My political group has considerations over the effectivity of the associated fee. There have been questions raised by quite a few vice presidents throughout the board,” he informed POLITICO.
“I’m not saying it’s a unhealthy worth for the provide. The query is that if that supply fits the wants of the European Parliament, as a result of one shouldn’t settle for provides simply because they’re good. Additionally they want to suit your wants.”
Rainer Wieland, an influential MEP from the European Individuals’s Get together, stated as he left the assembly on Monday night time: “Now we have to scrutinize it.”
Different MEPs are adamant that the Parliament shouldn’t contact the French provide. “We don’t want this constructing,” stated Daniel Freund, a German Inexperienced MEP who’s his group’s lead on an ongoing audit of the Parliament’s 2021 funds. “We shouldn’t purchase it. We shouldn’t lease it. We shouldn’t take it as a present,” he wrote to POLITICO in an announcement.
“The precise clauses of the lease will in fact must be set out in full at a later date,” Borne wrote towards the top of the letter, including that she hopes it would obtain a positive response.
MEP Stéphane Séjourné, who leads the liberal Renew group that’s aligned with French President Emmanuel Macron, declined to remark when requested in regards to the Osmose provide at a press convention.
“I’ll be easy within the non-response I’m going to present you,” he informed 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 stated, including that it’s not a query for him however for the Parliament’s president and 14 vice presidents.
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Strasbourg’s Mayor Jeanne Barseghian put a optimistic spin on the constructing in an interview with POLITICO that happened in April earlier than the French authorities provide got here in, saying the constructing represents “an additional chance for the European Parliament and even for the opposite establishments as a result of it may very well be used for trilogues” — negotiations between the EU establishments on laws.
At present, the Parliament is having to lease out further area in Strasbourg from the Council of Europe, which isn’t an EU physique, with a view to have sufficient workspace.
“The Osmose constructing is as much as the most recent environmental requirements,” stated Barseghian, who’s a Inexperienced politician. She even floated the notion that the EU establishment may purchase the constructing outright.
The Osmose complicated was anticipated to deliver €3.1 million to house owners, Icade, a French property group, and Caisse des Dépôts, the French public sector monetary establishment, in line with earlier official estimates, and assist France preserve 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 speak final yr, which has since died means, to retrofit one of many Parliament’s current buildings right into a resort.
The French everlasting illustration to the EU, the French overseas affairs ministry and the French prime minister’s workplace didn’t reply to requests for remark.
