Attack leads to call for special security zone

The mugging of an MEP in Brussels last week has prompted Jerzy Buzek, the president of the European Parliament, to urge the Belgian authorities to provide additional security for staff working in EU institutions.

Buzek wants a special security zone to be set up around the EU's Brussels buildings.

Estonian Liberal Democrat MEP Vilja Savisaar was robbed by a lone thief on Tuesday (2 March) in Parc Léopold, next to the assembly's main buildings in Brussels, while on her way home.

“A man came towards me with a mask or black stocking over his face, and he had his hand in his pocket. I didn't know if he had a gun or a knife or something. He came to me and pushed me down and took my bag,” Savisaar told European Voice.

The attack follows a similar assault on German centre-right MEP Angelika Niebler last October. The Parliament was also the victim of a robbery last year, at a branch of the ING bank in the Paul-Henri Spaak building.

Police protection

Buzek has won the backing of the Parliament's bureau, made up of the assembly's vice-presidents, to hold talks with Belgian authorities on creating “a special zone of security” around EU buildings.

Buzek has suggested that the federal police, which usually provide security for EU summits, should be put in charge of security around the European Commission, Parliament and Council of Ministers buildings in Brussels, and a special police station should be created inside or near the Parliament.

Parliament officials say previous requests have not been answered by the city's police forces.

Officials want enhanced security measures similar to those taken around other international organisations, such as the United Nations headquarters in New York.

Michael Mann, spokesman for Maroš Šefc?ovic?, the European commissioner in charge of administrative issues and of relations with the Parliament, said the commissioner “shared the concerns” of MEPs and had been in contact with Belgian authorities over security around the Commission's buildings.

He had agreed to improve the exchange of security information between the Commission and local police forces.

A spokeswoman for Annemie Turtelboom, Belgium's interior minister, said talks were planned between the minister's staff and Parliament officials in the coming days, but she refused to comment on demands for extra patrols or on current policing policies for the EU institutions.

Savisaar said she and many other MEPs were frustrated by the lack of security around the Parliament, especially in the evenings.

The Parliament has become a magnet for thieves, many officials believe, because of the relative wealth of MEPs and their staff, and the luxury cars that are seen around the assembly buildings day and night.

Brussels police statistics for 2000-09 show a steady increase in muggings, purse snatches, and car break-ins in the areas of Brussels, Ixelles and Etterbeek, where the Parliament is located.