http://www.express.
EUROCRATS are blowing £25million of taxpayer’s cash on transforming
Margaret Thatcher’s old Conservative headquarters into an EU super
embassy.
The building, 32 Smith Square in Westminster, was used by Lady
Thatcher before she became Prime Minister in 1979. The Tories moved
out in 2004 but it is still seen as a landmark of Britishness.
It is six storeys high containing almost 30 offices. But after its
conversion it will house just 68 workers from the European Commission
and the European Parliament.
The building will be renamed Europe House and fly the Union Flag
alongside one bearing the EU’s circle of gold stars above the stone
pillar entrance.
The redevelopment will include a roof garden, a first floor terrace,
pantry, a coffee point on every floor and even bathing facilities.
Large conference and exhibition rooms will be equipped with
telecommunications and seating for 150 people.
In line with the EU’s green objectives, solar panels will be added to
the roof, in car parking spaces reduced to make room for a bicycle
rack and a there will be new landscaping of the communal rear garden.
European Institutions paid £20million for the site. Refurbishment will
cost £5million.
Many politicians are infuriated with the move, which they see as an
attempt by the EU to exert greater influence in the UK.
Tory MP Ann Widdecombe said: “It is an incredibly sad end to what was
once a noble building. Why we need an EU embassy, I do not know.”
UKIP chairman Paul Nuttall said: “This will not so much be an embassy
as an overlord HQ, a viceroy palace. It is a stone’s throw from the
Houses of Parliament but will have far superior power because
Parliament only rubber stamps what the EU gives them.”
Mark Wallace of the Taxpayers’ Alliance said: “The EU costs British
taxpayers a huge amount, and the last thing we need is a palatial EU
embassy established at our expense.”
A European Commission spokeswoman said: “The United Kingdom is a
member state of the EU and so needs to have representation here. We
also work closely with the Government on a number of different
issues.”
Sunday, 27 September 2009
And, no doubt, with a man at it's head who was soundly kicked out of office by the British electorate - ex Labour MEP Richard Corbett.
Makes my blood boil
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx j
] What would Maggie think of EU embassy?
WHAT WOULD MAGGIE THINK OF EU EMBASSY?
HISTORY: Margaret Thatcher used Smith Square beofre her premiership
Sunday September 27,2009
By James Fielding and James Murray
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