I NEVER cease to be disgusted at the abhorrent waste of money by the European Union, but the latest move to spend £10million on extending the Strasbourg parliament is deplorable.

To clarify the situation, MEPs meet in two parliaments: the main one in Brussels for three weeks of the month and once a month in the Strasbourg parliament in France.

The Strasbourg parliament is without doubt the biggest white elephant in political history, towering over even the Millennium Dome. It only exists because the French Government demanded when the European Parliament was established that it have a base in France. It costs £80million to run each year and in that time is used for only 46 days. For the rest of the time it lies eerily empty, a lifeless monument to waste.

This bright idea to throw yet more cash at the Strasbourg parliament, which is still only three years old, belongs to the Socialist Group. They want to see two huge rooms built, each capable of seating 450 people, to accommodate new MEPs from countries soon to join the EU.

But rather than spend yet more money on it, why don't the faceless bureaucrats sell-off the wretched thing? Not only is it a constant bleeding wound in money terms but it is utterly impractical to transport all the MEPs, commissioners, and staff, 3,000 people in all, every month over to France. We can do the job perfectly well in Brussels, so why not stay there?

For the sake of common sense and the good of all taxpayers, let's consign the Strasbourg parliament to history and sell it.

DAVID SUMBERG,

North West

Conservative MEP.