Brussels, 26/04/2006 (Agence Europe) - Several MEPs in the Campaign for Parliament Reform, like German Liberal Alexander Alvaro, called for a postponement of the vote on Thursday on the report by Markus Ferber (CSU, Germany) on the European Parliament's discharge of the implementation of its 2004 budget, because of reports that for years, the city of Strasbourg has been over-charging rent on two buildings used by the European Parliament, the Winston Churchill building and the Salvadore de Madariaga building. Both are owned by SCI-Erasmus, a Dutch pension fund, which rents them out (until 2047 in theory) to the city of Strasbourg, which sublets them to the EP. Markus Ferber explains in a press release that the city of Strasbourg charges the EP some two million euros a year more than it pays SCI-Erasmus. He calls on the city authorities to come clean (it has refused to comment). The scandal was uncovered during negotiations over a long planned sale of the two buildings to the EP. In the same press release, Ferber explains that checking the contract between SCI and the city authorities, it was seen that there was a clause whereby the current owner would pay EUR 29 million to the city of Strasbourg if it sold the buildings. What for?, asked Ferber, answering that it was probably for the EU's anti-fraud office OLAF and the European Court of Auditors to that should answer. Alvaro, one of the critics of the European Parliament, a 'travelling circus' shuttling between Brussels and Strasbourg, said the very idea of buying new buildings from the city of Strasbourg should be quashed. Dutch Socialist Edith Mastenbroek, also a member of the Campaign for Parliament Reform, backed the idea of the EP's Budgetary Control Committee to establish a working group to investigate matters. Piia-Noora Kauppi (EPP-ED, Finland), one of the founders of the Campaign for Parliament Reform, warned that if the reports were verified, the European Parliament should immediately consider taking legal action against the city of Strasbourg.