EU Force One: Juncker commutes to Strasbourg by private jet

Jean-Claude Juncker and his top officials fly by private jet between Brussels and the European Parliament in Strasbourg just 220 miles away, documents show.

The European Commission - which paid €12.6 m for the air deal four years ago- has access to a fleet of six jets, which it dubs “air taxis”, to ferry Mr Juncker and other high-ranking officials around the world.

It includes a £4.3 million, seven-passenger Cessna Citation jet to make journey to Strasbourg for the parliaments’ monthly four-day sittings, despite the fact that daily commercial flights operate between the two cities.

The parliament spends around £200,000 to charter two express trains to take officials, MEPs and others from Brussels to Strasbourg on a Monday morning and back on a Thursday afternoon. Their papers are taken in black plastic crates in eight lorries.

In addition, well-placed sources say, the Parliament also charters a large aeroplane each Wednesday afternoon for around 100 staff who wish to return to Brussels early. It spares them the public train, which takes nearly six hours due to frequent stops.

Mr Juncker’s spokesman said the president of the European Commission used the private jet when there was “no commercial solution” to fit in with his schedule.

“The President usually travels to and from Strasbourg by car or on a commercial flight,” he said.

The Commission later added that out of the 14 Strasbourg sittings since January 2015, President Juncker had used the private jet three times to go to Strasbourg, and twice to return from Strasbourg to Brussels. One of these was shared with Martin Schulz, the president of the Parliament. On three occasions he used a Belgian Air Force plane, shared with Donald Tusk, the President of the Council.

The fleet of planes is also available to Mr Tusk, and Federica Mogherini, the High Representative who acts as the EU’s chief diplomat.

A contract for six planes was awarded in 2012 to a Belgian aircraft company, at a cost of €12.6 million. A similar tender was recently advertised, providing 870 hours’ flying time over five years to destinations that also include Hanoi, Cape Town, New York and Tel Aviv.

Bidders must provide a fleet comprising a nine-passenger mid-size jet capable of a round trip from Brussels to Riyadh, Doha and Abu Dhabi; and a super midsize jet, such as a Gulfstream G550, capable of taking 13 people to Tokyo and back via Strasbourg.

The Commission also wants occasional use of a large jet, such as a Boeing 737, to take around 100 people to destinations such as Antalya on the Turkish coast.

It reflects how, since the Lisbon treaty, the role of the EU has shifted from a regional trading bloc to a would-be global power with its own foreign policy. Mr Juncker insists that he is not a mere technocrat, but a "political" President.

The parliament’s official “home” was placed in the French border city of Strasbourg as a gesture of post-war reconciliation, and its status is written into the EU treaties over which France has a veto. MEPs have themselves voted for the Parliament to be given a single seat, to no avail.

Running two bases, and shuttling staff between them, now costs £130million a year, including £50million on maintaining buildings that sit empty for three weeks in a month.

The Tories campaigned to end the situation in the 2014 European elections, and in his 2013 Bloomberg speech, unveiling his reform agenda, the Prime Minister insisted the EU must cut back on spending and reduce the “huge number of expensive peripheral European institutions”.

Geoffrey Van Orden, a Conservative MEP who investigated the “egregious” cost of the Strasbourg seat in recent pamphlet, said it was “most unfortunate” that the Prime Minister’s renegotiation contained no initiatives to cut the price of membership.

“The heads of the various EU institutions have become lofty potentates with all the trappings of power and wealth leached from our nations,” he said. “So why should we be surprised at their fancy travel arrangements?”

It was announced in November that the Prime Minister and other ministers will have a dedicated plane for official trips.

An RAF Voyager A330 air-to-air refuelling aircraft will be refitted at a cost of about £10m. The government insists the move will save about £775,000 a year as the plane will be cheaper than chartering flights.

Note: This article was updated on February 7 to include further detail on President Juncker's travel to Strasbourg.