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| Martin Schulz, president of the European Parliament, gets into his limo |
The European Parliament Thursday approved a plan to create an internal chauffeur service for MEPs costing more than €10 million per year.
The measure was justified to MEPs as a security measure in the wake of recent terrorist attacks, because it will replace the current system of contracted drivers with an in-house full time staff.
The resolution, which is a part of the overall 2017 amended Parliamentary administrative budget, adds €3.7 million to the €7 million annual spend on official transportation for MEPs.
The extra money will be spent to hire staff drivers who have been vetted by background checks and outfitted with €1,000 uniforms, along with a fleet of green cars, according to the resolution.
The wording of the resolution acknowledges “reservations about the proposal of internalization of chauffeur service” after complaints from several MEPs who disagreed with the decision to create an in-house service to shuttle MEPs around Brussels and Strasbourg. The resolution also leaves open the option to ditch the plan, saying that a “well-organized” external contract “where the external service provider is clearly obliged to take responsibility for security and background checks as well as for decent working conditions and pay, should be considered as an alternative option.”
Security concerns following the Brussels attacks prompted a more aggressive pitch for the internal service by European Parliament Secretary-General Klaus Welle. Adding fuel to the argument was the revelation that one of the suspected Brussels attackers worked for a contracted cleaning service in the Parliament in 2009 and 2010.
The Parliament has already created a job advertisement for the positions, with a call for 300 drivers as candidates. The initial basic salary is €1,907.34 per month before tax.