Excessive expenditure on intergovernmental organization offices

As the largest UN specialized agency, the FAO occupies a large building in Rome, employing more than 7,700 people in 1993. One third of its two-yearly budget of £860 million was spent in Rome. The USA and the UK withdrew from UNESCO when it was noted that 80% of the regular budget was spent on the head office in Paris. At the height of the famine in Ethiopia in 1984, when relief agencies were appealing desperately for funds, the UN set aside £54 million to build a regional office complex in Addis Ababa. By 1993 costs had risen to £70 million with an expected termination date of 1995. By the end of 1992, The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development had incurred expenses of $306 million since its founding in 1991 (including $84 million on its new London headquarters), while only disbursing $153 million in loans and investments. In 1994 European Parliament officials were accused of impropriety and mismanagement in relation to the contract for the new parliamentary complex in Brussels costing £800 million. An attempt was made to hide an agreement to almost double the contractor's profit margins. It was estimated that £70 million in excess payments had been avoided by special investigation of the arrangements. In 1994 it was estimated that the European Parliament cost £900,000 per year per member of that parliament compared to £200,000 per year per member of the House of Commons.