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Robberies and muggings
A Belgian post office located in the atrium of the Parliament's Altiero Spinelli building was robbed on 4 February by two armed thieves who got away with €8,000. A branch of ING bank in the Paul-Henri Spaak building was held up at gunpoint in February 2009, and the €60,000 stolen was never recovered. In May last year, a cashier was robbed while walking from the Parliament's canteen to the bank, and again the suspect was never arrested.
Two MEPs have also been mugged in the EU district of Brussels in the past two years. Vilja Savisaar, an Estonian Liberal MEP, was robbed by a lone thief in March last year in Parc Léopold, next to the Parliament. Angelika Niebler, a German centre-right MEP, was the victim of a similar assault in October 2009, near the Commission's Berlaymont building.
Unsolved thefts
European Parliament crime statistics from last year show 114 cases of theft or loss in 2010 at the Parliament's sites in Brussels, Luxembourg and Strasbourg. Seventy-four of the cases were reported to Parliament authorities in Brussels, 27 in Strasbourg and 13 in Luxembourg. Electronic goods, cash, cosmetics and clothing were most often reported stolen. Of the 114 cases, only 16 were solved. Two culprits were identified in two solved cases in Brussels. They were both employees of external companies providing services in the Parliament, and have since been banned from the Parliament.
Philip Claeys, a far-right Flemish Interest MEP, says that MEPs and their staff should not be blamed for the thefts and argues that there is a need for stricter security requirements for external staff.
According to the office of Parliament President Jerzy Buzek, which released the statistics, the Parliament's security services do not usually inform local police of cases of theft or loss notifications.
Similar statistics from the European Commission showed that there were 548 reported thefts inside Commission buildings in 2010. Items reported stolen include everything from computers to pencils.
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