"I don't want these immigrants to die but we can't keep them coming over to Europe in their thousands, with Europeans risking their lives to save them. People expect me to speak frankly and that's what I plan to do here."
 
Sitting a few metres away from Nick Griffin were the four firebrand members of the Dutch Freedom Party, the anti-Islam group headed by Geert Wilders. Barry Madlener, the party's leader in the Parliament, has called for the seat in Strasbourg to be scrapped. The reason being that the European Parliament is the only institution of its kind to boast two headquarters, and that moving from Brussels to Strasbourg for just one week every month—for the sake of tradition—costs European taxpayers over EUR 200 million a year.
 
Bewildering maze
Although most MEPs are against the Strasbourg seat, they are horrified by these anti-European antics. 25-year-old Emilie Turunen from Denmark is the house's youngest member and was bubbling with enthusiasm about her new job as a member of the Green Party.
 
"I still don't know my way around here," she said while trying to negotiate the bewildering maze of corridors and lifts. "I am just sticking to the route I know!"
 
But she stresses that she considers being in Strasbourg "a privilege" all the same.

Vanessa Mock
Radio Netherlands