EU creates its own history to the tune of €50 million

Plans to spend over €50 million on a new historical museum in the European Parliament have been condemned by East Midlands MEP Emma McClarkin MEP, the Conservative Party spokesperson on Culture in the European Parliament.

The plans for the ‘House of European History’, released on Monday, have been in the pipeline since 2007, when former European Parliament President Hans-Gert Pöttering first espoused them.

The key objective of the museum is to be a place where “the European idea comes alive”, and where special focus will be placed on the post-World War II period and on the ‘European phenomena.’

However, at a cost of over €50 million, East Midlands MEP Emma McClarkin has some serious reservations about the project.

“At a time of austerity, the European Parliament somehow thinks it is acceptable to spend €50 Million on a project which largely ignores the major events of the twentieth century, let alone the thousands of years of history that preceded it. By focusing on post-second world war history, this is little more than an expensive vanity project for the EU.”

“What is more, according to this plan, future running costs have not even been calculated yet – you tell me what bank would give out loans for a business without seeing figures for running costs.”

“No credible business would operate like that and in these economic times, neither should the EU. It’s another example in a long list of events that shows just how out-of-touch the bureaucrats in Brussels really are.”