European Parliament
Astrid Lulling (PPE-DE ),
in writing
(FR)
I voted in favour of the report on appropriations to the European Parliament. I regret, however, that paragraphs 18 and 44 were not subject to split votes, as I would have voted against them.
A number of members of the Committee on Budgets continually mount rearguard actions against the decisions of the Heads of State or Government regarding our Parliament’s three places of work, namely Strasbourg, Luxembourg and Brussels. It is true that this arrangement gives rise to costs, but to call such expenditure superfluous is rash, to say the least. For MEPs, as well as for Parliament, decentralisation - which a majority of the Committee on Budgets unfairly refers to as geographical dispersion - has some very positive repercussions. To bring into question the need for our officials to be present in Strasbourg for the plenary part-sessions is a veritable affront to the Bureau and, especially, the administration which, I know, is very careful in choosing the officials it sends to Strasbourg.
I would also have voted against paragraph 44 which asks the administration, after what it pejoratively calls the ‘Strasbourg experience’, ‘to apply more stringent, water-tight and transparent procedures when purchasing buildings’…
(Explanation of vote abbreviated in accordance with Rule 163 of the Rules of Procedure)

